Wednesday Dec 3rd

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is VOCM Open Line Call seven oh nine two
seven three fifty two eleven or one triple eight five
ninety eight six two six abusing opinions of this programmer,
not necessarily those of this station. The biggest conversation in
Newfoundland and Labrador starts now here's VOCM Open Line host

(00:22):
Paddy Daily.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, all right and good morning to you. Thank you
so much for tuning into the program. It's Wednesday, December
the third. This is Open Line. I'm your host, Patty Daily.
David Williams. He's produced the program on this snowy day.
So if you're in the Saint John's metro region, the
number of dial to get in the q AND on
the air is seven zero nine two seven three five
two one one. Elsewhere a toll free long distance one

(00:44):
eight eight eight five ninety VOSEM, which is eighty six
twenty six. So we're better to start in the world
of sports on this wintery day. Golf Ganner's Blair Bursey's
chasing the dream as a professional golfer. He's in the
second stage of Q school on the corn Ferry Tour.
That's the tour just below the PGA Tour. Got off
to a good start yesterday three hundred sixty nine tied

(01:04):
for seventeenth. Needs me in the top fourteen by the
end of the second stage, move on to the final stage.
So go get him, Blair. He's been really digging in herd,
playing on the Latin Tour, playing over and New York,
playing in Asia, and now trying to qualify for one
of the big tours in the United States. And when
I look around some sports notes in the morning, when
the legends of various sports pop up in my feed,

(01:25):
I take a look. When Will Chamberlain was a high
school basketball player, people were actiously awaiting his appearance to
play in the NCAA. He went to Kansas, was a Jayhawk,
so he made his debut on this date in nineteen
fifty six. Turned up pretty good. Scored fifty two points
and grabbed thirty one rebounds, both records at the time.
Kansas beats Northwestern eighty seven sixty nine, which leads me into,

(01:47):
of course, a record that will never be broken. I
don't think is Will Chamberlain's hundred point game happened on
March the second in nineteen sixty two, one sixty nine,
one forty seven for the Philadelphia Warriors over the New
York Knickerbockers. There is no OHD video of that particular game.
There was radio broadcasts and documented scoreesheet, but that one
hundred points. You can put that one to bed, all right.

(02:07):
So plenty enclosures. The storm pages up on vocm dot
com if you're curious about whether or not somewhere you
we wanted to go or needed to go today is
open or not so schools closed. When I first went
out this morning and found out that schools were closed,
I was like, oh my gosh, I couldn't even make
a snowball with the amount of snow on the hood.
But I suppose the abundance of caution and windows for
dismissal were pretty narrow, So schools are indeed closed. Last

(02:32):
night I kind of forgot about the winter storm panic shopping,
went over to Sobe's for the classic eggs, milk and
a stick of butter, and boy, oh boy, it was
absolutely on wheels in addition to that, And people bring
this up to me all the time about their least
favorite pet peeves as it pertains to driving around this

(02:53):
city in particular, So I go over, I parked the
parking lot. It's pretty full, No big deal, right, I
can make my way through a grocery store pretty efficiently.
The fire lane, I don't know if there was a
square inch of fire lane that didn't have a non
firetruck parked in it. I get that, you know, people
want to get close to the door, what have you.
But it's remarkable to me how people just couldn't care
less about the fire lane, you know, which gets me

(03:16):
into w and you feel free to share your least
favorite pet peeve about driving and parking in the light
care this morning, because I know I've got a bunch
of them, all right. So, and of course many of
the daycares will be close today, but this story has
drawn the ire of many a daycare or childcare potential
operator into the future. The fact that the money is

(03:37):
dried up for any of the supports for opening up
a regulated childcare center, even if we're talking about in
the home, and one of the concerns there is that
the inspections have dried up because there's no money to
fuel it either. So for the government to tell us
that it can't be replenished until April of next year
just does not make sense. How many people listen to

(03:57):
this program this morning, whether you be in your first
trimester and you already registered yourself on a wait list
to get into a daycare or a childcare or an
early childhood education setting, and to are folks who are
wanting to be operators into the future. This is something
government can attend to. They don't have to wait till April.
They can absolutely keep this ball rolling and they'll tell
us that there's fourteen hundred and seventy new childcare spaces

(04:20):
have been created this year. That's the good news. But
the bad news is there's also spots that have been lost.
So you want to take on the daycare a bit,
we absolutely can and should. And now that you're home today,
likely because maybe your business or your office is closed
and your child's school is closed, if you want to
give us some idea about how it's going in the
CADA twelve system, you know, whether it be with the

(04:40):
additional money put out there to hire four hundred additional
professionals to work in the system. I get lots of
complaints about it in my email inbox, and one in particular,
and there's two different sides of this coin regarding the
cell phone bands. So this one lady tells me quite
clearly that in their school, their teacher has given up
entirely unenforcing just not worth the headache. That's paraphrasing what

(05:03):
the teacher replied to this lady in an email, and
another one where this lady again, I'm pretty sure as
a woman, her son has had the phone confiscated several
times already this school year because he just won't play long.
And she's blaming the teachers and the rules. But hey,
maybe just maybe your son should put the phone away.
I don't know, just thinking now loud, what do you think?
All right? Moving on to post secondary four second, I

(05:26):
know this is an issue and you've probably missed the
deadline this year, but it's automatically. When you sign up
to go to a more university, you get in their
health care program, including dental. So many people already have
dental coverage, right, so you have to opt out and
it's a reminder that you have to do it every
single year. It's not just one time for your entire

(05:47):
stay at Amoral University. So this lady wrote me and
told me that, you know, it was something they forgot
to do this year, And consequently, one hundred and seventy
six dollars of health coverage. Ninety nine dollars are dental,
so total two hundred and seventy five dollars that they
did not need that additional coverage at the university. So
keep that in mind for the future. It's sticking with healthcare.

(06:08):
Someone's going to have to fill me in because I'm
probably missing something here as to why this province has
not signed on to national pharmacare Like, we're already contributing
as federal tax payers, so why are we not in
So the problem says that they're waiting for the federal
government to do whatever, to approach them or to negotiate. Look,
if we're already paying, and we know that the prevalence

(06:29):
of things like diabetes in this province is very real.
Somewhere in the neighborhood, thirty three to thirty five percent
of the population either has diabetes or pre diabetes. There's
lots of factors, including genetics obviously. So if we know
that to be true and we're talking about cost of
living pressures between diabetes supplies and contraceptives, if we're already
chipping in on this program, why why why has this

(06:53):
government not signed on. And again, if I'm missing some
key components of pending negotiations, feel free to fill us
in here. But national pharmacare where are we? Same thing
with the Federal Dental Care Program, certainly very helpful for
folks who needed to go to the dentists what simply
couldn't afford it and didn't have any insurance. It came

(07:13):
out so hand fisted. This was basically force fed to
the Liberals by the NDP in their Supplying Confidence agreement.
And I think obviously he's beneficial to many Canadians. And
so the threshold is net family income of ninety thousand
dollars or less, and if it's seventy thousand dollars or less,
there's no copays. But people are getting caught off guard
when they go to the dentist. So it's always been

(07:36):
the advice to call the administrators at your dental clinic
just to get some forewarning about what you might have
to pay. I mean, for basic procedures like fillings, the
co payment could be around twenty percent. For major procedures
like crowns, for instance, it could be as much as
fifty percent. So you really do have to figure out
before you go because obviously you can't diagnose yourself and

(07:58):
your dental needs at home necessary. But if you just
flowed a couple of things past your administrator or the
administrator at the dental clinic, you might save yourself some
shock when you arrive for whatever procedure you're getting. All right, Yesterday,
lovely Lady called to talk about insurance, and in this case,
insurance on her home and lo and behold with no

(08:20):
claims last year. She was told that her premiums are
going up seven hundred and two dollars, which sounds like
a pretty hefty increase considering no claim. We know that
we're all in the same actuarial pool, so issues that
have happened to other people's homes in a different part
of the pool has impacted our premiums. Try to incorporate
that conversation into what I think is a growing potential

(08:42):
conversation regarding rent control. So this particular landlord reached out
via email. He wants these privacy respected and I can
absolutely do that. So he's a landlord for several rentful properties,
and he has seen in his insurance increase fifty three
percent no insurance claims. Ever, so his policy went from
just around eight thousand dollars annually to twelve thousand dollars annually.

(09:06):
So it's a fair point for this landlord to point out,
how do we have a meaningful rent control conversation? Because
rent control would be extremely helpful for the renter or,
But how do you accommodate the unforeseen increases like this
landlord has seen a fifty plus percent increase in these
insurance premiums. Can we build into the model some exemptions

(09:28):
for when some of these things happen for the landlord,
because they do indeed have the carry costs and the
overhead and all the inputs associated with being the landlord.
But how do we offer protections for either side? Because
if it's just simply going to be market pressures, we've
seen what that's meant here with the very low rate
vacancy rate and the skyrocketing rent costs. So how do

(09:50):
we actually incorporate both so that we don't indeed punish
one side of the equation or the other. I think
it's an interesting conversation, all right, And so with the
snow certain for people like myself and my wife thinking
about getting on the skis, the story continues about Marble Mountain,
so we know that they're down to one chair lift
only there's three there. Two are inoperable, so one chair lift.

(10:12):
But with it came very deep discounts for season passes
and they seem to be going doing pretty well. Maybe
if the folks at Marble would like to share a
little update here this morning about the upcoming season and
the pace with which people are buying these season passes.
And yes, the discount is absolutely attractive. The problem into
the future is they've had some pretty miserable years out
there regarding the amount of snow and the snow being

(10:34):
washed away, and the hill has to close and now
down to one lift. Then it's the future of government's
involvement at Marble. People outside the West Coast are and
Steady Brooking surrounding area, a lot of people think that
maybe the government should get out of the ski business
in full, ski snowboard business in full. I don't think
that's a sentiment shared on the West Coast, given the

(10:55):
economic driver that Marble can be if they fingers crossed,
have a good seat with the required amount of snow
and visitors from not only the West Coast but around
the island. And yes, people on the mainland who come
to skiing Marable probably the best hill in the land Canada.
So we really do wonder about what the future of
Marble looks like in so far as government involvement goes.

(11:15):
Your conversations welcome on that front. All right, let's reopen
the House of Assembly, right, you know we were told
that once all the MHAs were sworn in, and the
last one, of course, Education Minister Paul did because of
a court challenge brought forward by Dan Bobbitt, and there
was the regularities that were cited and no no one
bogrudges mister Bobbitt to ensure that things were done appropriately

(11:38):
and that the results were fair. But now that all
the MHAs have been sworn in, let's get the House reopen.
I don't think we need to wait until the second
of March, which is the day currently on the parliamentary calendar.
Jim Din and others begging this particular question, especially when
there was a four day debate, a special opening of
the House for a four day debate. Questions that can

(11:58):
be asked by all forty members of those representing their
bargaining team and members of representatives from JP. Morgan Chase
and others about the Upper Churchill Memorandum of understanding. Things
have changed. A lot of things have changed since last January,
so I think it's completely fair to get the house
reopened and have a better idea about exactly where we're going.

(12:20):
Premier Wakens says the terms of reference are being worked
on and should be released just prior to Christmas, but
let's get the house open here. I mean, I think
we just deserve a few more details and answers about
where we're going, exactly what we're trying to achieve. That
might sound like a stupid thing to say, but I
don't think so, because we're not entirely sure how this
is going to work. In addition to that, it would

(12:41):
be nice to know that the shift from hiring a
global organization to conduct an independent review has now been
replaced by a three person political appointed panel to conduct
the review. So let's have a better idea. Let's let
all the opposition members chime in, ask questions, get some
more public discourse going on this one, because it's two
big for to just sit on the sidelines and twiddle

(13:03):
our thumbs and wait. And that's not to suggest we
have to panic or rush or sign a deal for
the sake of and to worry about the pretty quebec Qua.
But let's get some answers going here. In addition to that,
you know, we have a both sides issue going here
with jobs. Jobs will be an important conversation here. And
we do know with the authority granted to hydro Quebec

(13:23):
inside the MoU at Gaull Island, what does that really
mean for jobs? You know you hear Fred Hutton talk
about the benefits agreement like muskrat Falls, where it's qualified
people in the indigenous communities first, then residents of Labrador
at next, then residents of the island after that we're
talking all qualified people, then the rest of the country,
then the rest of the world. How can we enshrine
that in black ink in a contract with all of

(13:47):
the authority for hydro Quebec upfront engineering, predesign all that
work that's going to be done Quebec obviously because they're
they're the entity building it and assuming the risk just
at goal. So how does that actually you work? You know,
the MoU is exactly that it's not binding. So on
the pathway to definitive agreements, how is that going to
look for people in this province. Pretty big question. In

(14:10):
addition to that last one, is the time for an
independent review over an MoU? Or is time for an
independent review is when there is these contracts to be
signed for me, with the lack of understanding about exactly
what's going on in the negotiations, whether or not anything's
actually changed pragmatically for one side or the other. What

(14:32):
are we revealing? Do you think definitive agreements would be
much better exercise of time and money and detail. I
don't know. Your thoughts are absolutely welcome, all right, So
on that one, and Premier wakem was good enough to
release Mike Wilson's on a redacted letter, which I think
was helpful to understand mister Wilson's concerns with the current

(14:52):
structure of the independent panel. But also, I'm proudly in
the minority, but I want to look at that Rothschild report.
I'd really like that have a skin through that thing.
So let's see if we can't get that one in
front of us as well, all right. And inside that,
of course, will be conversations about the NLC, all right,
So we still don't really know exactly what selling the

(15:13):
NLC means whether it be in parts or in full,
and of course still see a return based on excise
taxes to the provincial government, but some of the numbers
released by the NLC see some of their profits down
and the returns to the provincial government down slightly, all
basically because of the decision made to take American products

(15:34):
like California wines and Kentucky bourbon off the shelves. For
some it was the optics of pushing back against the
pathetic trade war that we're involved in or trade spat
that we're involved in. For me, I understand that sentiment,
but realistically, let's put it on the shelf before we
throw it away. It's approaching as best before date. Other

(15:55):
provinces either have moved on because it is not irresponsible
to allow individuals to make their own decision. Let's to
whether or not they want to buy California shabbley or not.
If you don't want to buy it because of the
tensions between the two countries, don't, But if you do,
it's your money. So let's just put it on the
shelf and see what happens. You know, I do think

(16:15):
it's an extremely worthwhile exercise to consider buying domestic products
for every reason that you can think of. But let's
just put it on the shelf and see where we go.
All right, how we doing not today, let's get it go.
Not in the mood to carry too much waiter today.
All right. Someone said this story along and I follow
along with some of these issues anyway, and it's about

(16:36):
the fixed link. This one is a reference to a
story coming from Norway, where they're now building. They start
a construction in twenty eighteen. They dropped in twenty nineteen
due to project the cost of runs, but now they're
back at it. The world's longest and deepest undersea Row
Tunnel now being built. All right, so here's one of
the tricks. Workersum late twenty twenty one. The tunnel is

(16:58):
now slater for completion twenty twenty thirty three, at a
cost of approximately two or twenty five billion Norwegian crowner,
which is two point four billion American. It's pretty long
and it's pretty deep. What's also interesting here is what
they call it. It's the Rockfest, which is short for
words I can't pronounced, and you know what that is.

(17:19):
It's a Norwegian word for fixed link. There's plenty people
in the province think the fixed link is a bad
idea anyway, But there's plenty people in the northern Peninsula,
in the West Coast, and certainly folks in Labrador who
continue to think it's a pretty good idea. But that
cost is extraordinary when you compare what we're talking about here.
They're talking about a twenty seven kilometer seventeen mile long tunnel.

(17:41):
We're talking about a tunnel much shorter here, even though
they landed on some sort of rail bed type of design.
Don't get it. But the most recent update from a
outfit called Hatch or No Hatch, did review in twenty eighteen.
It was then modernized by Arab changed a lot. Now
they expected to cost four point eight billion dollars and

(18:04):
that's in twenty twenty three numbers. Obviously, that one has
gone up since it was part of a mandate letter
for then Minister Katherine McKennon to proceed with it. It's
put in the hands of the Candid Infrastructure Bank, with
which there was a five hundred thousand dollars review done,
shared by two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the
Infrastructure Bank and two hundred fifty thousand dollars from the province.
So is this a dead in the water, not a

(18:26):
conversation any longer, I wonder, and you wonder whether or not,
like I haven't heard Premier Wakenmans speak about it, and
I don't think it was mentioned to the Prime Minister.
In addition that, I wonder whether or not National Pharmacare
was part of the discussion on top of BATA or
in critical minerals and defense spending and the like. But
let's see some of the numbers that ARAB has put forward. Okay,

(18:48):
So yeah, Hatch did the work in eighteen updating work
they did in two thousand and four, and then ARAB
took it down and produced their report in twenty twenty three.
In addition to simply the building of the bundle the
fixed link, they're also talking about the need to finish
the highway in Quebec, which now has an approximate cost
of three billion dollars of Highway one thirty eight. Then

(19:09):
it would be the highway upgrade and needed on the
Great Northern Peninsula to accommodate any additional flow of traffic.
Hatch estimates talking about the tunnel to serve one hundred
and sixty two thousand passenger vehicles per year and two
hundred and forty four thousand commercial vehicles per year. Air
up much lower. They approximate only one hundred and eighteen
thousand pastor vehicles and only twenty seven thou two hundred

(19:30):
commercial vehicles per year. So talking about a revenue shortcoming,
which I guess is part and parcel of a g uestimate,
given we have no earthly idea what final costs would
be and what the toll might be. But they're talking
about a revenue shortfall of at least ten million dollars
per year based on contextual tariffs or tolls comparatively with

(19:50):
other types of tunnels, Confederation Bridge and otherwise. So is
the fixed link a dead conversation? Seems to be Oh,
I want to put this scam warning out there for
folks this morning. I can find it and the relentless
like I got one yesterday from Canada Posts, the pretend
Canada posts saying they couldn't deliver my package. Blah blah blah.
It's a scam. Don't fall forward. This one comes from

(20:11):
a phone number that will be texted to you from
five oh six two three zero eight five four to two,
and it says it's service NL. Following the review of
our registration fees at twenty twenty four, a credit is
available on your account and then there's a link to click.
Don't click it. Don't click it. So just beware of
everything that might be a scam coming into your email

(20:33):
or your cell phone, whatever the case we be. So
that one says it's from Service NL, it's not a thing.
Don't click it. And people are so people need more money.
So when there's more money floated in front of you,
it's overwhelming temptation to give it a click, but please
don't do it. We're on Twitter or VIOSIM openline. Follow
us there, email addresses open on at VOSM dot com.

(20:53):
Let's have a great show here on this snow day.
That means you're in the queue. Topic up to you.
Don't go away, Welcome back to the show. Let's talk
about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for a minute. Here
a couple of things. So we really need a larger
presence of CFI agents in this province, you know, given
things like if we're trying to establish more domestically grown

(21:14):
or produced beef, then obviously you need CFIA here because
of the average fire inspections what have you. In addition
to that, when we talk about groceries, and I mentioned
buying local and domestic procurements and what have you. When
the CFIA did inspections based on complaints brought forward about
the misleading labeling and marketing and some inside some of
the big grocery stores, they identified several instances where a

(21:38):
product might be from the States or Argentina or whatever
the case may be, but it was labeled as a
product of Canada. Why because people felt that bit of
patriotism and the frustration with the Americans and course wanted
to buy local products if it's all possible and if
the price is right. They found all these examples and
did little to nothing about it. They basically said, please
don't do that. They have the ability under the legislation

(22:01):
to actually find these retailers for the misleading advertising and labeling,
but they didn't do it. So consequently, you know full
well it continues to this day. The agency has also
been in the news recently because of the call of
ostriches out at a farm in British Columbia. It was
conducted poorly executed, poorly, but eventually was a court ruling

(22:25):
allowing for this call to be to take place because
of avian flu. And you can take down the ostron
Tram conversation if you're interested. But now there's a bunch
of birds contracted avian flu. There's an outbreak on turkey
farms near Strathroy, Ontario. So they've approached some one hundred
thousand birds that have been put down. The average in
the five effected sites range between fifteen two hundred to

(22:48):
thirty three thousand. But here's the problem. CFIA is saying
that they can't release any additional information because of privacy concerns.
So that relates to specific numbers and the actual farms
where they had to go and deal with an avian
flu outbreak, And why are they not giving us any
further details. They're setting privacy in this one example, but
they're not even providing a spokesperson for media interviews any longer.

(23:11):
Why Because of the call of ostriches at that farm
in BC, some of their inspectors have been receiving death
threats or simply being harassed and as a result, and
that's kind of a real snapshot of where we are
these days. People were upset about the call of the ostriches,
some three hundred of them at that particular farm, And

(23:31):
there's reasons why those ostriches were called, and the farmers
themselves certainly didn't act in good faith either. But because
of that and the frustration of some Canadians actually bringing
death threats forward to inspectors working for the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency. So now that's where we are. Avian Flu
is a problem, and there's a reason some of these

(23:52):
calls take place, and it's highly contagious, so in the
air of caution into the future, some of these calls
are just required. But you know, we think about the
fact that there's been millions of birds in North America
that have been called because of avian flu outbreaks. But
the amount of attention brought to the ostrich farm was wild,
And now these inspectors are getting death threats. What's the result?

(24:14):
No media updates, no spokesperson brought forward to answer some
pretty legitimate questions from the media and from the general
public as to the status or the state of some
of these avian flu outbreaks and the things that we
need to know. So we know that these migratory birds,
the flu has been hitchhiking to who knows where and
spreading the disease, which is absolutely highly contagious. But now

(24:35):
we can't get any information because of how some people
reacted to the Ostrich farm story. Amazing stuff. Last one
on this is apropos of very little. But here comes
that time of year again where we're told that people
aren't allowed to say Mary Christmas, which is not a
real thing. So Merry Christmas to you and your family,
and when it comes from someone like me, it's simply

(24:56):
a positive and a merry salutation. Leave certain groups out
of the holiday cheer. So Merry Christmas, Happy holidays. But
this is a good story, which is amazing what some
people will do. It's about a sign that was posted
along the parade route in Branford, Ontario, last week during
their annual Santa Claus parade. People complained about the sign

(25:18):
and for kids, just close your ears for a second,
the science said, and how dare this person the sign
saying Santa is fake? Santa isn't really your parents are Santa?

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Come on, Santa is an important part of it for
our children into the future. But what kind of person,
even though they're allowed not breaking any laws. But what
does it take for someone to want to do that? Like,
what is wrong with you? How miserable can you be
in your rotten little life to want to post those
signs along a Santa Claus parade route? And again, pretty

(25:53):
indicative of where we are these days with the caliber
or the quality of public discourse. I'm the most fundamental
things all the way up to the most complicated things.
All right, let's get a break in today's good data.
Join us live on the program. If you're in and
around town, it's seven zero nine two seven three five
two one one elsewhere total free long distance one a day,
eight five ninety VOCEM, which is eighty six twenty six.

(26:15):
We're taking a break and then we're coming back. Welcome
back to the show. Let's go to Lene number three.
Good morning, Patty, you are on the air.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
Hi, you're going to take up Hey, do you want
to talk about the link and mody in the Christmas preage?
But I think this was the idea of a new arrest.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Pardon me, Danny Dumres.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Was he the one who come up with this idea
about the link going in? So I'm glad and deep
scrap picks.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Well, I think he was a big supporter all of
the concept of building a fixed link, but the idea
precedes Danny Dumresk by years decades.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, do you understand the consequences that could happen to
this honor? And if you put that link.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
In what does that mean? Consequences like what.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Well, you take Cuba for instance, not against Cuba, It's
just an example. If you took Cuba and the land
and Dunkalan and stretched them in a straight line, two
of them are Botely You're saying, well, Cuba has eleven
million people and it can you imagine eleven million people
in newk Land.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But why would that happen? Like, I'm not so sure
I'm following here. What does Cuba have to do with
this island?

Speaker 4 (27:26):
Well, what if we we hook up to the link?
Anybody can come here to live. I know we need
people here to make work and whatever. But if it
ended up that we did have eleven we had a
lot of land, a lot of people, like roop Land,
But the consequences would be like, how many people will
want to move here?

Speaker 2 (27:44):
I doubt many people would want to move here simply
because they can drive here.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
I don't know about that page. There's a lot of
people who want to come here, but in the price
of the fairy, you don't cut it for them.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
It would still call it.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
You're thinking about it, thinking about it, eleven million people
in Cuba and people wanted to move here, and we
ended up with even a million people.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, I just don't see any population growth, necessarily speaking,
because of you can all of a sudden drive on
and off the island of Newfoudland. Plus, I'm not even
so sure based on the most recent work being done
or the examination of the possibility. Even the four castid
numbers by Arap are way lower than what was thought
to be the case by Hatch in twenty eighteen. So

(28:32):
I don't even know how many people would use it period,
let alone how many people would want to move here
because they can drive here.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
It would be much scheaper to get here.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
I don't know how much cheaper it would be. And
plus the ferry wouldn't go away, you know. I also
heard people say, well, we save all the money that
we spend on Marine Atlantic by building this link, but
the ferry's not going anywhere. It's always going to be
a thing, a service.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
I understand that when I'm just sure the unknown, because
when we got that many people, you wouldn't be able
to get rabbit here. You'll be hunt.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
I don't think we have any worries on population explosion
because of the possibility for a link. I really don't.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Well, it me look easier for to travel here. And
also and just talk about the guy with the sign
at Christmas Grade.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, that's weird.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
I was a child. When I was a child, it's
hard to have a small child to understand that that writing.
But when I turned eight years old, I was told
to difference of it, and then I understood. But being
a kid at that age, I don't think you could
change their mind. And then I don't know.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
I don't think we should even try. I think let
kids be kids is a pretty good idea. There's no
textbook about how to parent, but one thing I think
most parents agree on is let kids be kids when
they're kids.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
I understand that, and I agree with you one hundred percent. Anyway,
I hope didn't scrap the idea or learning.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
It seems to have gone away.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
Yeah, I hope you live. I mean, I just think
that it wouldn't be good for the island. I really
don't think it would be good. I know we need
bring people in to create work mark. If that much
to happen, Patty, I really think that there would be
an explosion of people moving here.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
I don't think we'd be a little havana all of
a sudden. But I appreciate your time this morning, Patty,
Thanks for calling.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Thank you, Patty, have a great name.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Christmas Day, same to you. And you talk about land
mass and population. Look, immigration, I know it's a contentious subject.
When the death rate outpaces the birth rate in this province,
which it has four years, then there's some obvious needs,
whether it be skilled trades people or otherwise, to healthcare
professionals for instance. And you know, you just talk about

(30:52):
land mass of population. I believe the out of Newfoundland,
which I think is like the twelfth largest island in
the world, twelve or fifty something like that, it's around
sixty square kilometers, Is that right? Yeah? I think so Manhattan,
where there's something like eight or nine million, is over
around one hundred and nine square kilometers. So we could

(31:13):
handle geographically speaking. Now, services and whatnot. We can't keep
up with the housing supply. We can't keep up with
access to healthcare, even though we're serving about five hundred
and forty thousand people at this moment in time. But
the Fixed Link has always been an interesting conversation. And
it's not just filling the tunnel, it's all the work,
like is mentioned by Arab Highway one thirty eight in Quebec.

(31:34):
They're looking at on approximate cost to finish it, complete
it with all the amenities required around three billion dollars.
And then just imagine if you got that volume of
traffic that came across the fixed Link. You don't need
me to tell you, the folks in the Great Northern
Peninsul would tell you they would need major highway upgrades
to accommodate some sort of massive increase in traffic flow
on the GNP. Let's see what's happening today in the

(31:56):
world of ice control and snow clearing here in the
city of Saint John's take it more to word three.
Counselor and Public Work lead. Public Works lead. That's Greg Nosworthy. Hello, Hello, Greg,
I can't click that dep Can you open up line
too for me? Good morning, Greg, you're around the air.

Speaker 6 (32:11):
Good morning, Patty, you're warm today.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I'm doing okay today. How about you. I'm not too bad.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
You know, I'm comforted because I know we've got cruise
out and they're dealing with the snow and we've got
coming down. I just wanted to give folks an update. Obviously,
we've got a number of closures through out to Capital
City and across the province, but here in the city,
just want to let everybody know Cruise are out, they're salting,
they're pushing the snow back. I saw I saw walk
plowoffs to go by recently. So we've got everybody out.

(32:39):
We're making sure that everything is well in order, and
once the snow eventually ends, we'll make sure the city
is ready to open up again real soon.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
So all the winter staff, maintenance and otherwise, they're all
been hired and they're all onside, and all the equipment
has been the maintenance is done and calibrated, ready to go,
you got it.

Speaker 6 (32:57):
So one of the things we always make a point
to do as we gear up towards the fall, So
towards the end of September actually we start bringing our
winter staff, start ramping down the fall and summer stuff,
so crews start to transition because you know, we can
get snow in October, and we want to be ready
in October November, not just December and beyond. But we
are ready to go. We've been ready to go for
some time, and we've got cruise out there right now

(33:19):
taking care of it, making sure everyone's safe.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Let's look back to last year, because whether it be
the amount of money spent on ice control and salt
and sand and or snow clearing itself, it was a
pretty mile winter with very little snow for the most part.
How did snow clearing budget look last year? How much
money was left over?

Speaker 6 (33:39):
Well, so this is an interesting question because you know,
we on average see about three hundred and thirty five centimeters,
and actually we just had a presentation on this yestertat
I think that total has actually gone up about twenty
centimeters in the past few years on average, So we're
actually seeing snowfall totals increase on an average year over year, which,
of course, with climate change we're not necessarily seeing it.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Out our window.

Speaker 6 (34:00):
But when you look at months like January, February, March,
we're getting those big snowmagate and type storms. So we've
got to be ready. No matter what, we got to
have crews that are there. They still need to be
on watching, ready to go, so they're still getting paid.
We still have a ton of water that comes down,
so salt needs still need to go out at night
to make sure the roads aren't slipping.

Speaker 7 (34:17):
So while there might be some savings, it's quite a
bit more.

Speaker 6 (34:20):
Minimal than I think most people would think, because we
still need to be prepared, and if we're not prepared
we have a snowmageddon type event, then we're all hurting.
So we make a point to keep everybody in tip
top shape, have the budget ready to go, make sure
we've got antioicing systems, plowing and widening and all that
good stuff ready to go no matter what.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, I mean obviously prepared. And this is key here
because you don't know what the weather's going to bring.
But for me, and of course I've never been intimately
involved with a snow clearing budget at the city level,
but it seems to me the big storms that require
you know, huge effort ins take days maybe to clean up,
versus persistent snow through the course of the winter where
maybe the plows are out you know, four or five

(34:59):
days week versus one or two days a week, even
when we talk about major impacts. So that's where I
was going with the budgeting type question. Another concern that
people bring for it, and I get it, is about
the choreography, because I don't know just how attentive the
choreography might be sometimes because when I see a sidewalk
plow go down the sidewalk and close behind it is

(35:20):
the snow plow and the wing roll ends up the
snow on the sidewalk, How does the choreography work?

Speaker 8 (35:26):
Yeah, well, a couple of things on that.

Speaker 6 (35:29):
So we've got fourteen hundred kilometers of lanes and roads
throughout the city Saint John's, so we've got to keep clear.
So when you think about going across the downland and
coming back, you're almost going and coming back as far
as Gander, if not further. So when you talk about
the sheer amount of roadways that we have to clear, there's.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Quite a bit.

Speaker 6 (35:46):
So there is a bit of a song and dance there.
And on top of that, we have about two hundred
kilometers of sidewalks that get cleared. So when you're thinking yourself, okay,
it's Wednesday, now, we got to get everybody out get
everything done. We've got a timeline standard and when we
have snowfall events, and the key thing here is is
when the snow is over, this is when these standards
kick in. Anything under twenty five centimeters, we make sure

(36:09):
that we have an initial cost.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
That way, the city is open on all the roads.

Speaker 6 (36:13):
Within twelve hours, sorry, twenty four hours, and then anything
above twenty five centimeters, the timeline shifts a bit because
of course, you know, when we talk about varying elevations,
might be more snow in Town Heights and can Mount
Terrace than there is downtown or Mundy Pond, those types
of things, so it does shift a bit, and unfortunately
we can't give it a definitive answer. But in terms

(36:34):
more of the sign and dance choreography, as you mentioned
in there, I've been some really great conversations with staff
and we've got some really fantastic people who are trained
really well with knowing this stuff, whether it's our engineers,
our crews are out operating machines, or folks in the
back room, and we're looking at ways now to optimize
that to make sure that when that sidewalk plow is
going out, we don't just have say a plow combined

(36:57):
dumping it in because we don't want to do that.
That doesn't make sense. So those conversations are happening. I'm
really pleased to make a note of that, and we
should see continue improvement. And on top of that, we've
been investing more. Last year's budget we put another couple
million in on top.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Of snow clearance.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
So I think this winter we're going to see those
improvements start to have an effect, and then again next
year and keep up on the standard, which is great.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Appreciate the times for of Greg.

Speaker 9 (37:20):
Anything else, you know, Patty, Just be safe, folks, if
you had to be out, you.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Know certain people. Of course, if you're working at the hospital,
we want to get you there as quick as possible.
But if you're looking to go get a bag of chips,
maybe hold off until tomorrow. But be safe after folks,
if you've got to be on the roads.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Thanks so March, Thanks Greg, Bye bye there as Greg
knows really worth three counselor Oh, just to clarify, apparently
Dave's feeling some interesting calls from my perspectives and in
my opinion and in my life and in my brain.
Santa Claus is real, always has been, always will be,
and for kids to be kids and enjoy the magic

(37:57):
of Christmas is all part of it. So I'm not
so sure what you think I said. I'd refer to
as signs that some nuisance was posted on a parade
route in Branford, Ontario from my perspective, and for me
to your children, Santa Israel, of course he is. What
are we talking about. Let's get a break in, don't
go away, welcome back to the show. Let's go to
the line number one say we went to the executive

(38:17):
director at the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities. That's Nancy
Read and good morning, Nancy, you're on the air.

Speaker 10 (38:24):
Good morning Patty. Thanks for taking my call today.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Happy to do it. And right off the bat, even
on my list of things to discuss today was what's
the status of creating a disability as advocates office, given
the fact that today is International Day a person with disabilities,
And it didn't get out of my preamble, and I apologize.

Speaker 10 (38:41):
I'm glad that like could come on and we can
talk about it right now. Let's do much, Patty, So yeah,
thank you for bringing that forward. Today is International Day
of Persons with disabilities, and it is a day that
you know, many people around the world celebrate, you know,
people with disabilities and opportunities and ways that we can
do things better and really have conversations around that. So

(39:03):
that's what I want to do today and many of
us in our community in this province of doing that.
There are a number of events I'm sure that you'll
hear about in various places. I won't speak to them,
and of course we all know it's a snow day.
Many things got to hijacked, if you will, today because
of the snow for good reason. So the first thing
I want to say is that we actually will be

(39:25):
holding an event. We intended to do it today. Instead
we're going to move it to tomorrow in a safe place.
It's going to be just a comfortable open space. It
will be held at the Holiday Inn on Portugal Co
Road from three to four tomorrow, just an in person gathering.
Anybody who would like to join us is welcome to come.

(39:47):
The Minister, the new Minister for the Status of Persons
with Disabilities in this province and that being Minister Jodi Wall,
will be there, so if anybody hasn't met them yet,
it's a good opportunity. We'll be signing or with Minister
Wall our proclamation for International Day tomorrow. We're doing that
because we really want to recognize change that we've witnessed

(40:12):
in this past year. We've seen two major I guess
seeing moments on the radar that we've been waiting a
long time for. We recognize that there are still many barriers,
don't get me wrong. One of the things that we
want to talk about and celebrate is the disability benefit.
In this past year, our Problems has been able to

(40:35):
deliver a disability benefit monthly up to four hundred dollars
a month for people who are eligible for people with
disabilities who are eligible.

Speaker 11 (40:45):
And while we.

Speaker 10 (40:46):
Recognize and fully speak to the barriers that still exist
for many people accessing that fund, for those who are
able to get it, it is actually change making. It's
four hundred dollars a months persons who are living in
poverty very often, and so obviously that makes a difference.
We also want to and as you alluded to earlier, Patty,

(41:09):
want to talk about the disability advocate and the opportunities
that we realize around the horizon. With a disability advocate,
there's so much worse work to be done, but we
know that because we had unanimous support to a private
Members build in the last sitting of the House, we
know that we will actually have a disability Advocate in

(41:29):
this province. And I believe in many of our community
members believe that that's the opportunity to really make change
and make inclusion and accessibility available for people with disabilities
in this province as we go forward. So on the
International Day, we want to celebrate that.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Absolutely. When I was thinking about this yesterday, because I
was in my calendar, I went to a couple of
websites just to see if I could get some additional information,
and one of the banners at the World Health Organization says,
today we call on every country to make everyone's voice
cont whence shaping our health set systems and at the
bottom an affordable health costs. We're sick of it. So
it's an interesting way to put it. It's blunt, but

(42:06):
it's to the point.

Speaker 10 (42:07):
Yeah, it's so true. And so we at the Coalition
and in other cases as well, really have great expectations
for the Disability Advocate and that office when it gets created.
We know it's not going to happen overnight. But we
recognize that it's some thirty one percent of us plus
in this province are persons with disabilities, and many of

(42:27):
us have individual barriers. Many of us have the same
or similar barriers, and those are systemic. We know that
there are issues in healthcare, We know that there are
issues with access transportation. You look at side today on
this snow day, you know, for some people it's an inconvenience.
For other people, it means that they will not be
able to leave their home, to their apartments or wherever

(42:49):
they're living because that sidewalk is not going to get cleared,
or because there's no access to public transit. For some people,
again it's an inconvenience, for others is actually a barrier.
And so we really believe that the disability advocate will
have an opportunity to really consider ways a suggest and
change thinking about things in a different lens. And we're

(43:13):
really expecting great things from the Disability Assocat. So I
want to celebrate that this year, and we want to
go forward recognizing that there's so much to do, but
we have opportunities.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
To realize some of those things absolutely and inside the
disability benefits just for the benefit of the listeners. Eligibility
begins with getting the Federal Disability Tax credit. Then everything
flows from it, and the income thresholds are very similar
to the Senior's benefit. I think the first maximum of
the four hundred dollars a month is just over twenty
nine thousand dollars in net family income. Then the floating

(43:44):
target moves up to just over forty three thousand dollars.
The issue that I have with that is the same
thing when I talk about garanteed income supplement. Those numbers
are a little bit old, even though I know the
disability benefit is new. If we're trying to capture people
in certain income brackets, man, my personal power of twenty
nine thousand dollars five years ago is vastly different than

(44:05):
it is today. So we always need to keep a
close eye on these eligibility thresholds because they need to
be meaningful. That we can't just set them and not
recognize the change of people's fortunes when it comes to
cost of living, inflation, and other pressures in the economy.
So I just want to put that one out there.
I don't think I've ever asked you this. Pardon me, sir,
I'm sorry, I didn't.

Speaker 12 (44:23):
Rept will fit.

Speaker 10 (44:25):
I agreeful, thank you.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
When it comes to you know, we use the number
approximately thirty one percent of the population in this province
is in the disabled community. How does that compare to
other provinces, Because when I look at the national numbers,
it's not that high, and when I look at international numbers,
it's somewhere in the neighborhood of sixteen percent, and estimated
sixteen percent of the world's population is in the disabled community.
So how do we compare to other provinces, Nancy d

(44:48):
You know, I knew, but I don't have.

Speaker 10 (44:51):
The cheating in front of me, so I can't be caught.
I know that we're one of the higher areas. There
are a couple of provinces that are actually higher, provinces
of Dandal territories that are higher at us, but we
are certainly in the higher bracket. But I don't have
the numbers in front of me. It's available online story, Patty,
I just don't have it today and on my cheat sheet.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yeah, yeah, I was just curious because it does feel
like we are a little bit above the national averageuck.
We are on many issues here in this province, Nancy,
while we have you have you got any sort of
updated timeline from the new government about the establishment of
the Disability Advocate.

Speaker 13 (45:26):
No.

Speaker 10 (45:26):
What they're saying, you know, is that it's a priority
for them, and I believe that'd be true. We were
at the college and we've already had our first in
person meeting with the Minister Responsible, and you know, and
we've recognize it that they're serious that they're going to
make this happen. We don't have an understanding yet of
when that legislation will be ready, and you know, I'm

(45:47):
very comfortable, and I've said it very publicly before, I'm
very comfortable with it taking a few more months to
ensure that the legislation is developed appropriately. We can't have
a cookie cutter approach to this position. This this office.
It is very different than existing offices because we are
a different population, a different community, and so we want

(46:08):
to make sure One of the things that I've been
pushing for is that the office itself, that the individual
the disability asigate will have the opportunity to investigate. So
that while we expect that this Disability Advocate will respond
to systemic needs and the needs of the greater community,
We need that disability advocate to be able to really
investigate individual claims, to have a real understanding of the

(46:32):
ways people in this province are facing barriers. They do
not access what the problems are and if we don't
do individual investigations of that sort, we don't get that information.
Right now, two of the offices in our province have
investigated authority, that being the Office of the Citizen's Representative
and also the Child Youth Advocate. The issue for us,

(46:54):
of course, is that while they do great work, they
don't have a disability lens and so the purpose of
the dis going to advocate is to bring that lens forward.
So we need that individual to be able to address
from a systemic issue, but that includes the investigations to
individuals in that space in order to ensure that the
systemic needs are fully being understood for what they need

(47:16):
to be individuals in those spaces. Absolutely, i don't know
how long it's going to take, but I'm very comfortable
waiting a few more months. When we're waiting a long time,
we're more concerned that it gets done right as opposed
to getting done quickly.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Here here appreciate your times warning, Nancy. Thank you very much.

Speaker 10 (47:32):
Thank you, Patty, have a great day the International day.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Same to you, all right, bye bye. It's Nancy Reed,
executive director at COD And now of course the Coalition
of Persons with Disabilities. Oh boy. You know, it seemed
like the fixed lenn conversation had really gone by the wayside.
And for the most part, you know, conversations that I've
had or calls to this program, they have indeed subsided
dramatically based on you know, the frequency calls years ago.

(47:56):
Bring it up this morning, have one chat about it.
Emails are alive with fixed link commentary on either side
of the issue. Let's get a break in for the newscast.
Will we go back. There's a ton of time left
for you. Don't away. Welcome back to the show. Let's
go to lie number two. Charlie, you're on the air.

(48:17):
Good morning, Patty, Good morning to you.

Speaker 14 (48:21):
Let's see Patty. Did you see the doctor from Newfoundland
who came back from Gaza recently?

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I did and heard her stories. Unbelievable.

Speaker 15 (48:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (48:32):
I don't think we realized that just how bad it
is over there. You know, I was reading some stats,
the number of buildings and the infrastructure and so on.
It's almost totally destroyed. You've you have children living intents

(48:54):
of course that where they were showing they were flooded
in that this is the winter with the rain, and
that can you imagine all day in a wit ten
then you go outside and you're playing in sewage. It
just boggles the imagination. And then you add that performance
about peace. They're the twenty point piece plan, and that's

(49:18):
really going nowhere. The Middle East countries don't want to
take up. The populations, don't want to go there, they
don't really want to pay for the rebuilding. So I
sometimes think that the world after the shooting stops, everybody

(49:40):
thinks it's gone back to normal. And I don't know
if we stop aid through national government through happay, but
certainly people tend to forget it very quickly. I don't
know if you want to make any comment, because it
seems that Israel they wanted to use the war to

(50:02):
destroy gas, They wanted people to leave. They made their
plane through the bombings and not sending in hay letting
people serve. It seems there was a planned genocide from
the beginning. I don't know if you want to make
any comment or not.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
It was certainly a territorial takeover in full was always
part of the plan, no doubt about it. Infrastructure damage
and gads and the last numbers I saw was somewhere
in the enable to sixty five percent of the infrastructure
is gone rubbled. I mean, it's unbelievable. You talk about
going back to normal, there will be no normal. On
the gods of script, there will be no normal in
the West Bank. And by the time the world wraps

(50:43):
its mind around it, we will have seen just a
real estate transaction with no actual compassion or empathy or
understanding of human lives. It's unbelievable to watch what's going
on now. I freely admit that sometimes it's really difficult
to decipher what you're reading or seeing, how real or
how much merit is associated with it, whether it be

(51:03):
coming from the GOSM Health Authority or coming from the
Israelis themselves. It's heartbreaking what's going on over there, that much,
I can say. And the way that humanitarian aid has
been halted installed is And I don't care what side
of the issue you're on, these are well understood issues
regarding using food and other humanitarian supplies as a weapon

(51:23):
of war is a big no no, but we see
it and hear about it all the time.

Speaker 14 (51:30):
Well, the rubble just a clearer way to rubble. It's
more than all the other wars put together. Right, if
you're talking about destroyed, it says ninety four percent of
all hospitals, eighty nine percent of schools, all twelve universities,
the electrical grid ninety two percent, water sewage plans seventy percent,

(51:55):
major road to ninety two percent, and you can go
on and on the homes ninety two. I mean, that's
total devastation. You could argue there's nothing left that's habitable.
You can't treat people in hospital. She said she had
no bandages and so on. It seems the world is

(52:16):
standing by, though again you don't hear much much about it,
since they come out and make this big announcement, this
big performance thing, and then it's like they walk away anyway.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Well, here's another indicator, Charlie, about just how unbelievable this
all is. Even the doctor from here that spent time
on Gaza, it wasn't allowed to bring any medical supplies.
There's already a huge shortage of everything from bandages up
and down the list. But she was told she couldn't
even bring a stethoscope. So if that's the kind of
harm people are willing to inflict on other human beings,

(52:50):
when there's someone like this particular doctor willing to offer
aid and comfort and support and medical services to not
even be allowed to bring a band aid or a
stethoscope or anything else, it's just I mean, isn't that
all we need to know? At The statement about the
lack of humanity associated with this war is one thing,
But the way that we're not being able to even
treat or feed or house people has never been part

(53:13):
of the equation in the modern day world, where we
assigned to things like clear definitions of war crimes, clear
definitions inside the Geneva Convention, it seems like the backs
have been turned on all of these things. Rules of
engagement used to be about military conflict. Now whether or
not we let someone a child or whoever else something
to eat anyway, I don't know what to say about it.

Speaker 14 (53:35):
They ban even now, They ban things like cement, steel bars, pipes,
willing equipment because they say these are all dual use
and will be used for building more tunnels. But how
can you reconstruct a building if the basics are denied,
this is all planned. It seems to get away with

(54:01):
more too. We see what Putin is doing, he said,
worldwide condemnation because of what he's doing with the bombing civilians.
It seems Israel I don't know if you're ill for
the same standard, because how can they not be called
a terrorist state doing what they're doing? But you don't

(54:24):
hear that a being applied to them by a lot
of countries.

Speaker 8 (54:27):
You know.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Well, it's like many of the complex conversations in this world,
it gets stopped in this tracks. If anyone dare question
the motives and the operations of these ready to defense
forces to be immediately labeled as an anti Semite, it
just doesn't help the conversation. It's just like if we
have questions or concerns about security and vetting regarding immigration,
then you're called the racist. So no conversations take place

(54:48):
when the immediate labeling is the first sentence out of
someone's mouth. Question what's going on? Does not make you
an anti Semite. Israel is not the Jewish faith. Israel
is a country. Even large Jewish communities in the United
States are saying the same thing, is we can and
should be allowed to talk about actions on the ground
and not be labeled as an anti sam Way for
doing so. And same thing with your worried about immigration

(55:11):
doesn't make you a racist. We've got to stop having
the end conversation before the conversation begins.

Speaker 14 (55:17):
I've I've stopped even paying attention to that because that's
so silly. I mean, there's many Jews that, especially in
the States, who who condemned this and stronger language, and
you can imagine.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
You know, and many of Israelis are fed up with
it as well. Their hardest leaning newspaper in Israel is
really calling for some sort of conclusion to all of this.
And you know, another interesting part of the story here,
and it's not directly related, but it's inherently related is
Netnaho himself. Now he's looking for a pardon inside the
corruption trial that he's been dealing with for years, saying
it would be helpful in so far as national reconciliation goes.

Speaker 14 (55:54):
Oh, come on, a lot of these students that come
out to talk about what the universities are doing in relations,
spending money in Israeli industries and so on, they have
legitimate cases. You've had the US supplying the bombs and weapons.

(56:15):
You've had the Germans doing it, and I think there's
several other friends. Probably what culpability would they have in
keeping that war machine? Going to me, they're playing right
into it and they're just as culpable as the Israelis. Well,
i'll leave it at that. I just like for people
to pay more attention and whatever we can say to

(56:38):
our government representatives and that to keep that alive, so
we can at least try to do more and say
more about it as a government.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
You know, I understand that people have very busy and
complicated lives, and many people live in a three foot window,
and you know, to be concerned with what's going on
in your own world, of course, because it's your world,
looking out for number one, trying to take care of
your family, trying to take carry your friends, trying to
get to work and get paid and pay the bills.
So I get why people are tuned have tuned out

(57:07):
a lot of things in this world because some of
them were just so traumatic it's hard to follow. And
that's not the only conflict in this world. There's endless
conflicts in Africa. Enles's conflicts in Lebanon, endless conflicts in
the Sudan, endless conflict in Ukraine, and the list goes
on and on and on. So at some points maybe
it's a bit of self preservation kicks in. We're so
overwhelmed with some things that go on in our own backyard.

(57:28):
To add to that pile. For many people is just
they don't have the brain capacity and the emotional capacity
to take it on. And I fully understand that I
have to be very careful with the amount of these
types of news stories I consume, because it does get
to you after a while. So I know why people
don't think and talk about some of these very scary, dastardly,

(57:49):
blood thirsty conflicts across the world, because it's a lot.
It's a lot to tackle well.

Speaker 14 (57:55):
I admire students and other rectivists who try to keep
the thing alive. Uh to look at look at those children,
and look at your own eating their breakfast and going
to school, and to see those kids, those little darlings playing,
playing among the tents and in the water cold, no shoes,
and so on. We have to become global citizens, this

(58:17):
business of citizens of Newfoundland or of Canada, and that
it's every everything touches everything else, and if we don't
become global citizens where only half citizens is my view
on it. Anyway, The last thing I want to talk about.
I saw an article there about people, young men, especially
people leaving countries like New Zealand developed countries like the

(58:39):
United Kingdom and that no jobs, no real jobs that
they want, and AI taking a lot of these a
housing way beyond their ability to ever get a house.
Do you see this as a trend coming for developed
countries other than those two.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
I'm not really sure. I know that young men are
in a dangerous place here in this country, and there's
a variety of reasons for it. Some of it is
just the political rhetoric that just is all consuming when
we talk about social media and the influence that it
now has over people. So I don't know what the
future holes on that front, but there's some scary trends
that we should absolutely be aware of, no question there.

(59:21):
And artificial intelligence. I bring it up very frequently here.
I don't get much traction in so far as callers,
but it's going to be a bigger issue than it
already is, because no matter if you're interested in it
or not, a lot of what you see, touch and
feel and read these days has some sort of AI
impact involved. So it's already here. It's already been extremely
dangerous and extremely problematic, and it's only going to get worse.

(59:45):
And I don't know why people aren't talking about it more.
And I know government overreach and legislating this, and government
dictating what we can and cannot see and read and
touch and field. But boy, oh boy, if we don't
start getting something associated with the mandatory labeling of aijen
images and videos and content content, we're just going to
have an issue with critical thinking, which is already almost

(01:00:08):
a thing of the past. Now we're going to have
to fight the good fight every single day we're trying
to decipher what's real, because most of it's going to
be garbage, even these large language models CHATCHYVT. It's wrong
more than it's right. But yet we read stuff generated
by that stuff every single day. And as I long say,
a lie makes its way all the way around the
world before the truth gets out of bed, and it's

(01:00:29):
never been more true than today.

Speaker 14 (01:00:32):
Well, they've estimated that AI will will take at least
forty percent of jobs in certain industries and so on, right,
especially take industries. But anyway, I don't see any controls
coming on. And just recently the US administration wanted to
to to drop the idea of controlling it, you know. Anyway,

(01:00:55):
I guess we leave it at that, and it's a
strange world. I haven't got much more time in and
I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I if that's
a bad thing or not. Anyway, good enough, Patty pre
Shire your time. Thank you, Okay, bye bye bye.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Said Raaking. When we come back twenty four hour snow
clearing in the queue, then you welcome back to the show.
Let's go Lene number one, Dale, you're on the air morning,
Patty Morning.

Speaker 12 (01:01:21):
How's a looking out on Campman this morning?

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
But I can hardly see cam on Terrace with the
snow that's driving right now, So I'm really not too sure.
I don't think it's too too bad just yet.

Speaker 12 (01:01:30):
Yeah yeah, same here, but I'm sure it's going to
get worse with the wind and rain now, so important
to be careful, ayby absolutely, Patty. But I was calm
today was about twenty four hour snow clearing and I'm
work in the come By Chains area. Drive him from
CBS and normally this Every last few years I've been

(01:01:51):
getting the rental out in the area because the roads
don't be done overnight and four and five o'clock me
and a good man in the other beyond the road
and it's not not fit to be so basically I
gets to rental every year. This year I held off
because of an announcement about twenty four hour snow clear
and there hasn't been a thing done with the roads.
The files and I have screenshots at the file tracker

(01:02:14):
with time stamp sunum of when they bes on to go.
The highways don't feed on until five thirty six o'clock
and half of us are already at work, and that's
when they come on to the highway, not when they
get them got them cleared.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
It's a good It's an interesting observation because we don't
really have a full understanding of what twenty four to
seven snow clearing actually means. Does that mean that when
the snow starts, whether that be one o'clock or two
o'clock in the morning, that the plows go out then,
or is there a certain accumulation that they wait for
before they go out. Do they try to accommodate different
worker schedules. It kause of depends where you are, right.

(01:02:51):
If you're someone who works at Long Harbor, you have
a different travel schedule than someone who works on Cama Road.
So it'd be nice to know a little bit clearer
about how they approach it.

Speaker 12 (01:03:00):
We well, twenty four hour means twenty four hour with
me or you and anybody else. That's the whole part.
Is not a they're not a new winter strategy schedule.
There's twenty four hour. Now, that's pretty clear that it's
twenty four hours. You can go on the road at
one o'clock or twelve o'clock and a cloud of twenty
four hours day. You know, within reason it's going to
be clear. They might be a little bit behind, but

(01:03:21):
they'll be in the trucks ready to go home on
their snow column. Now others went the minister and government
to realize these antisus announcements. Then you put it on
the news and you walk away. People are making choices
about looking yourself and goodman. The other didn't get rent
to us this year. Figured the roads be done. They
haven't even made an announcement, and now we're on unsafe

(01:03:43):
roads and we could easily go on the ditch or
anything else. So there's gravity to these announcements they're making
to us. Fellows.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
The crowd that are keeping.

Speaker 12 (01:03:51):
Government off is going every day, and here we are
around the road is not safe to be and we
were told it will be and as well in the
December now and we don't even got an updates.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Not fairy, I understand your point, But to your initial
point about five thirty six o'clock before the roads are cleared,
that was kind of where I was going with. Look,
if I have to be on the road at two
am for whatever reason, does twenty four to seven snow
clearing mean that the roads will be plowed when I'm
out at two o'clock in the morning. With the winter
having kicked in now with the first real winter store,
certainly in this neck of the woods. You know, part

(01:04:23):
of this expansion on these fourteen routes was for the
need to hire what was it, fifty new operators, twenty
five part time, twenty five full time. So I wonder
whether or not we're even able to meet the merits
of the announcement with the need to have hired all
those additional operators. I don't know, but we invited mister
Petton on the show this morning and maybe he'll make time.

Speaker 12 (01:04:44):
Yeah, I think that's a good idea to ask Competti.

Speaker 5 (01:04:47):
They've made an announcement for it.

Speaker 12 (01:04:48):
The roads weren't doing this morning. They're not done any
morning until at least you know, piles an time to
Hollway until five thirty or later. And that's every single morning.
There's never an exception. We'd around earlier, first host on today.
They weren't out yesterday, day before, as I see. And
there's hundreds of people in the road, hundreds and just
because they're not awake doesn't mean that everybody else on

(01:05:08):
the road is in the same boat as the him
and can hold up.

Speaker 5 (01:05:12):
We can't.

Speaker 12 (01:05:13):
We got shifts for paid by the hour. We're relying
on these announcements, and if this should be immediately followed
by a target date or an update date of when
it's going to come to effect. We can't leave people
into luch like that unsafe on the road. It's such
a dangerous situation.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
I totally get it. I have to be on the
road very early in the morning, myself and certainly my
kids same boat. And yeah, I mean we will prob
the twenty four to seven conversation with Minister Pett and
I'm pretty sure you'll make time for us here this morning,
given the fact that we are in the throes of
the first real storm at least here in the northeast Avalon.
So if he makes time, we'll ask those questions on
your behalf to.

Speaker 5 (01:05:51):
Help excellent Patty.

Speaker 12 (01:05:52):
Maybe he could make a small little minute there to
address all the people on the road going the combo
answer Landhi, Brigent, because we're all wanting to know, so
maybe it makes a little bit of time there to
making an update. And his announcement that if we don't
in December to marriage, we're well into December and they're
not doing so we want an update.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
I'll try to get you one.

Speaker 12 (01:06:11):
Thanks, Patty, you're basically really appreciate everything. You don't speak
up first.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I appreciate your time. Thanksdale. Okay, take care you too,
Bye bye. Yeah it might sound like a silly question,
but what do we actually meet by twenty four to seven?
So again, if there's a specific start time, forget the
plows and the salt trucks or the sand trucks out
on the road. Okay, but how does that jive with
other people schedules outside of that, and I don't know

(01:06:37):
if there's a death a defined time to get out
there and do the work. And we obviously really appreciate
the work that's snowplow operators and folks driving the trucks
and all the rest of do here in the city
and on the provincial highways. But we'll see if the
minister has some time here this morning, and if you
want to pose a question to him through me, you
can do that. Let's get a break in and when
we come back, Mike wants to talk about starting up

(01:06:58):
a local service district. I build rules of the Road.
Looking forward to that one. Don't go away, Welcome back
to the program. Let's go to line number three. Good morning,
Mike here on the air.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Good morning Patty, thanks to take my call the problem.
I'm from Marysvale and last few months, since October, we
have no local service district committee and I got a
meeting call for Saturday, September fifth. They're at two o'clock
at the local Hall to try to get a committee
in place. I just like to you know, I know

(01:07:31):
a lot of people listen to a show and I'd
just like to get the message outs. Just this is
just not a means for me to get it out.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
And what happened to the committee.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
They resigned wasn't I guess, wasn't getting enough help or
we only had a three people committee in the end
of it. So they resigned when their time was up.
So I'm hoping to get one in place on Saturday
comings right right now. I mean, we got no one
to We got Eastern Waste Mansion picking up our garbage
and everything. We got no one to pay, we got
a pump post to look after, and we got very

(01:08:02):
little money.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Yeah, which is the case for most elesties. I would think, Mike,
just you know, people talk about being a town counselor
or city councilor have a pretty good understanding about what
their roles are. What would be the heavy lifting done
by committee member to be being part of or in
charge of your LSD.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
The bookkeeping would be the biggest one, and you know,
getting the money straightened away and builds out and banking
and outside of that, well, we've got a water system
that needs a little bit of work and that's about it.
And people got to realize, you know, it's all volunteer.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Right, absolutely, And I'm not going to say it's a
thankless job, but it could be and it can be.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
Oh for sure. You hit nail on the head and
this was hard to get people involved in it. But
I just want to throw it out there and we're
going to try for Saturday, like I said, December sixth,
at two o'clock at the Mary's Vale Hall there. And
if we can't get a committee, well I don't know
what tell the people what will happen after that?

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Yeah, you'll be rudderless And that's not helpful for anybody,
even though you're right, it's maybe pretty time consuming, can
be pretty thankless, but people need to step up and
be champions for their communities. Much. Do me favor you
send me an email on Friday morning so I can
remind the folks in your area that meetings coming up
on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
Yeah, you consider that, don Patty. I'll do that Friday morning.
And I just want to say thanks for taking the call.
I still enjoys your show. I haven't called lately, but
I'll still enjoy your show. And I'll just end on this.
You always ask the difficult questions to the politicians. As
the PARADOI you enjoys now saying you always get Droid
answer what you answer, you asked the questions.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
I appreciate that, Michael. Thanks for tuning in and appreciate
your call this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
Yeah, and I'll send along email to you Friday morning.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Thanks buddy, Okay, thanks, take care, see Mike, Bye bye bye.
You know, it's, I guess, very similar to the struggles
that some communities have to get people to put their
name in the hat when it comes to municipal elections.
Because you're right, I mean a lot of the things
that we rely on day today is really at the
hands of your municipal leadership, whether be LSD's or incorporated municipalities.

(01:10:10):
So hopefully folks in and around Marysvale will at least
take the opportunity to go to the meeting on Saturday
afternoon to see what the possibility is for them to
join the LSD committee. Let's go to line number for Bill.
You're on the air.

Speaker 8 (01:10:24):
Yes, Good morning, Good morning, Patty morning. I'd like to
talk about the Outer Ring Road. Okay, It's like I
think it was last week. I was driving from I
picked up my friend in Torbay and we were heading
out to the West End. So we took the Outer Ring,
you know, so to get to that part of the town.

(01:10:44):
And the signage overhead on the Outer Ring road, the
Green Science that says, if you're going west, you know,
to take the outside lane or the lane close to
the to the media, and it suggests that. And so
that's what I did, you know, Like I went and
I was driving at one hundred kilometers an hour to
make my way to the to the to the west

(01:11:06):
end of it. And uh and then it was tailgate
and I was tailgated a good way is a good
part of the way, you know, until I moved over
to get to my my exes. And but it was
very uncomfortable, you know. It's you know, like I flashed
the lights on the back of the car, but you know,

(01:11:26):
the tailgater still didn't back off, you know, and he
just stayed there. I mean if if if if there
hadn't been anything on the road and I had to
stop suddenly, he'd be he'd be aboard me and the
car would be out of control, and I probably you know,
it could have been quite serious.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
I got tailgated this morning on the Gujoe on Run.
I mean, it was kind of snow and I didn't
know how slippery it might be because there was some
black guys on my street. So I was taking my
time and I make no apologies for it. And this
big jacked up pickup couldn't have been more than foot
behind me. It was on label, and I was afraid
to even tap the brakes to give him the old
back off side because he was right there. So people

(01:12:06):
lose their mind sometimes when they get behind the wheel,
like I just don't understand it. Well, I suppose I
understand it, but I just think it's getting worse drive
around Saint Johns.

Speaker 8 (01:12:14):
Thus that was my experience, you know, I mean that's
the road though that's uh that's probably used by I
would say, you know, fifty percent of the population of
New Poland. If you take in the metro area, like
the utter Ring Road, that section of the trans Canada
you know connects CBS and Paradise, Mount Pearl saying it

(01:12:35):
connects it all together. And you know, even though as
far as Poochcov tourbe, so you know, that's a particular road.
And and I think the rules is why I'm saying,
like the rules of the road on that stretch of
the Highway are a little different than on the main
body of the Trans Canada Highway.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Fair enough, I mean I talked off the top of
the show. You know people's least favorite pet peeves when
they drive around. Another good one for me is when
you're trying to merge onto the highway or onto the
Outtering Road, and people get in the left hand lane,
even when they're parallel to another vehicle in the right
hand lane, just making it so difficult and tricky to

(01:13:17):
even merge on because if you're trying to pass one
in the left lane. Okay, I get it, but be
aware of the fact that when you're approaching some of
the on ramps, people need some space to get out
of the friggin road. So just maybe, just maybe don't
be directly alongside other vehicles what people are trying to
merge on because there's nowhere to go.

Speaker 8 (01:13:34):
Yeah, yeah, now see, this is this is where I think,
this is where I think I think the problem lies
with people Like I brought this up to other people
and they said, well, that's easy, busy, you know, it's
just keep right except to pass. But I don't think
that applies in the situation on the Outering Road. I don't.
I don't think that's it's the signage overhead suggests that

(01:13:57):
you take the outside lane if you're going the west,
and then as you get close to your exit, then
you move over to the lane closest to the exit,
to the exit lamp or the exit ramp or that
kind of thing. You know where I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
At there, I absolutely do. We can do a whole
show on, you know, bad behavior or how people actually
drive around. I mean, don't get me gone the indicator.
It's there for a reason. When you pull into a
parking lot, you don't stop at the entrance looking for
a parking space. You pull into the parking lot. When
you get in the Walmart parking lot, you don't drive
through parking spaces. You either back in or back or

(01:14:35):
drive in head on, but you don't drive all the
way through. I mean, don't get started on how people drive.

Speaker 8 (01:14:40):
I know. I just want to focus on that whole
idea that people think that the lane that's closest to
the to the medium is a passing lane or a
fast lane. Was I think that's wrong. I think people
are mistaken.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
Well, you can use that lane for that purpose, but
once you have stopped passing any vehicles. I do think
I'll get your thoughts on it. I do think you
belong back in the right hand lane, don't you.

Speaker 8 (01:15:08):
No, that's right, No, that's right. I well, you know,
like I don't. I don't like to say I disagree
with you, but I disagree with you. That's what I mean.
Because I disagree with I don't think. I don't think
you're obligated to go back into the we call it
the right hand lane. I think because the signage overhead,
it's there's green signs and overhead things on the highway

(01:15:32):
on that part of the on that part of the
transcand of the highway, and it's only on uh On
on the outer ring road part, and it says if
you're going I don't know if you've noticed before, but
if you look at it, it said, if you're going
T C H West, then you should stay out here
in the in that lane that's close to the medium.
That's what that's what that sign says to me. And
as you get closer to your to to your to

(01:15:56):
your your your interchange, you know whether you're going to
go down Thorpan Road or Allen Dade Road or as
you get closer to those things, then you move over
to the then you you change lanes and you move
over closer to the exit. I think that, you know,
like I think that the through traffic is. I think
it's a driving lane, just the same as the right

(01:16:17):
hand lane. So you know, I'm sorry to say I
disagree with you, but I think that's where the confusion is,
and I expect and I think that's why when I'm
out in that lane doing what I think I'm supposed
to be doing, which is going through, and I'm also
as I'm out in that outer lane or say kind
of outer lane, but the median lane, then that gives
room for the lane that's close to the to the

(01:16:42):
to the on ramps, for those cars to merge into
traffic because I'm not blocking that lane. So like if
everyone thought that they were supposed to move right over
to that right lane again, then that'd be all choked
up and cars wouldn't be able to get into this.
You have the circumstance that you were cropping.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
Fairbout and people disagreeing with me. That's nothing new. That
doesn't bother me whatsoever. I think the mindset for most
in the motoring public is that the right lane is
for the regular pace of traffic, and the left lane
people use it to pass. And when there's conflicts on
how people view those two lanes, then all of a
sudden you get people passing on the right hand lane

(01:17:23):
where most people are considering moving back into the right
hand lane. So I guess if we all had a
unified approach and understanding of how we should deal with
the lanes, we'd probably be a little bit safer for
them we currently seem to be on the road.

Speaker 8 (01:17:34):
Yeah, I think that's the point, right. I think there's
some confusion there, and I think, like I've heard people
who are driving instructors and who with the larger driving
instructing companies in the cities agree with what I'm saying.
I've heard them say that that is a regular driving lane,
it's not a passing lane, it's not a fast lane.

(01:17:55):
I mean, it could be used as a passing lane, yes,
but some people consider that, oh, that's the fast lane.
If I want to go out there and do one
hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty's, that's where I'm
allowed to go. But that's not true because the limit
the speed is one hundred kilometers an hour. So if
I'm out in that lane doing one hundred kilometers an hour,
I'm following the rules.

Speaker 7 (01:18:15):
Of the road.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
And fair enough. Bill, You be safe out on those roads,
and I appreciate your time this morning. Okay, Christmas send
you thanks, Bill a right bye bye. Yeah. You could
do a whole show about what people see out there
in so far as the behavior of the motoring public.
I get emails every single day about people blasting through
red lights, and you know the fact that some of
the notorious red lights really should have a camera cost

(01:18:40):
recovery at the intersection. Here came out road in Kelsey Drive.
You turn it back in the month. Yeah, I mean,
it's just simply wild out there. And again, like did
the old grocery shop for just three bare items last
night and there wasn't a square foot of fire lighting available.
It was full of passer vehicles from one stretch of

(01:19:00):
Holly States to the other. I don't even think I've
ever seen it quite that jam in the fire lane,
but it sure of us last night. Jennifer's next in
the queue, and then you don't go away. Welcome back
to the program. Let's go to line number one, Jennifer,
you're on the air.

Speaker 15 (01:19:16):
Good morning, sir.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
How are you doing? Okay?

Speaker 15 (01:19:18):
How about you kind of in the Dirk because the
powers out in the west end of CBS Lawrence Ponderia,
Upper Gullies Celco area, and it's been absence about a
couple of minutes before ten o'clock. Just want to let
you guys know, we've reported it to nuclean Power cruise

(01:19:40):
around en route, but you might want to check in
on your and your family and friends and so forth,
and stay warm. And tis the season question mark of
power outages? Here we go? Is this the beginning? I
don't know, but there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
I've I opened up the outage alerts earlier and people
are sending me emails from CBS telling me that the
power is out. I have no earthly idea what the
time frame for restoration is. Let me just give it
a click and outage type unplanned estimation, estimates, restored and time.
No idea doesn't even give anything at this moment of time.

(01:20:20):
An estimated start was that nine point fifty eight? Is
you rightfully pointed out? So that's the that's the update
they wore. Yeah you too, okay, appreciate time, Jennifer, Okay, goodbye. Yeah,
I have no idea what happened. Even dw Flanpower doesn't
know because when you go to the outage center, which
is sometimes pretty helpful to know that you know what

(01:20:41):
causes and the estimated time for the power to be restored.
But in this case, outage type unplanned cause, under investigation,
cruise status en route. So the location Lord's Pond, so
Forest Road, Peacekeeper's Way, Upper Gullies, coult Road, Doyle's Road,
Upper Gullies, Cultu Roads, Forest Road, Seal Coveed, Doyle's Road,
Garden Road. So hopefully they get that figured out sooner
than later. Let's go to line number two. Trevor, you're

(01:21:03):
on the air.

Speaker 5 (01:21:05):
Good morning, Patty.

Speaker 2 (01:21:07):
How are you doing great and good?

Speaker 7 (01:21:11):
I just got triggered by the right lane versus left lane.
It's a beef for me, especially when the send you
trucks here in Ontario they block the left lane and
right lane trying to pass each other going up the hill.
But I'll just warn you, I'm getting this information that
I'm about to tell you from my buddy's girlfriend note

(01:21:34):
or yeah, my buddy's girl friend out in Claironville. Her
name is chat gdp.

Speaker 3 (01:21:42):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:21:42):
So right lane, commonly known as the travel lad This
is the lane you should use most of the time
normal driving, cruising in the right lane, entering and exit
exiting the highway, staying at or near the speed limit.
Traffic keeps to the right. Vehicles totaling trailers should stay

(01:22:04):
right until passing. Left lane commonly known as the passing lane.
The left plane is mainly used for passing and not cruising.
Passing flower vehicles from the right lane move back to
the right lane when safe, can be used to allow
emerging vehicles more room and some no notes for the

(01:22:28):
left lane. Don't camp or sit in the left lane.
Driving flow in the left lane is actually illegal in
many provinces. In Ontario, the Traffic Highway axays you must
keep to the right hand lane except when passing another vehicle,
avoiding hazards when the right lane is blocked or ending

(01:22:49):
or preparing for a left turn, and sometimes left lane
blocking can results in a traffic ticket.

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
And that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
That's might to be t Yeah, I mean, since that call,
and you know, I'm never surprised what gets a lot
of reaction here. So one day it's about moose licenses
for the disabled community, and then today it's rules of
the road. I'm just going to give you a guess
of it. Oh, I don't know, three dozen emails since
that call about what people consider to be the rules
of the road. I don't even know if there's such

(01:23:21):
a thing about different rules on a certain stretch of
the Outer Ring Road, because that is, in essence the highway.
I mean, because if you drive out the Outer Ring Road,
you will be on the highway. So I don't know
if there's such a thing as different rules between I
don't know where it begins at look Abe road and
say ends and becomes highway one. I don't know, pick
a spot, seal cove turnoff. So I don't know if

(01:23:42):
people consider different rules. But I don't think there's such
a thing as different rules. But I go with the
old right hand normal traffic lane, left hand passing lane
when safe to do so back on the right lane.
That's just how my brain functions, right.

Speaker 5 (01:23:56):
I think that's how I've learned to drive.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
Like absolutely in the years go.

Speaker 5 (01:24:00):
But anyway, yeah, that's how I treat the road pretty
much the same as what she just said.

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
Yeah, I think most people that's their thought process when
they get on a double lane road is normal course
of traffic on the right because that's the place that you,
you know, will travel at the normal rate of speed.
You don't have to pass anybody in the right hand lane.
That's how you get off. And so again I some
people out the way have different thought on it. But
the problem with that, Trevor, is that if we've got

(01:24:30):
a bunch of people travel on the same roadway with
different understanding about how to proceed, that of course makes
it less safe than it need to be. Then it
should be right.

Speaker 5 (01:24:40):
And then there's the people and sometimes themselves. You know,
you sit your cruise and you stick at one twenty
no matter what, and then keep cruising along at that,
but usually stay in the right length.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
I seldom use cruise control, yeah, I guess I actually
I would seldom use it.

Speaker 5 (01:25:03):
On the own as well, but on the mainland here
because of the side of the.

Speaker 7 (01:25:09):
Highways, maybe it's easier to use.

Speaker 5 (01:25:13):
But yeah, that's all I gotta say.

Speaker 2 (01:25:17):
Dave Williams just said to me that he uses it
every single day. I cannot remember the last time I
used cruise control. Honestly, I feel like I'm more attentive
and more in control if I'm actually, you know, operating
the pedals as opposed to sitting back and letting cruise
control take it over anyway to each throw and I.

Speaker 5 (01:25:36):
Suppose, great, all right, well let's have a good day.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
You two, travor all the best. Bye bye, all right,
bye bye.

Speaker 10 (01:25:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:25:44):
I mean, is there such a thing as a different
thought process or rules on a certain stretch of the
Outer Ring road versus how most people, I think approach
driving on twined highways. I don't know. Dave tells me
cruise control is good for a fuel consumption. You don't
need to be tapping the pedal. You can go pretty
consistently one oh five or one ten or whatever it

(01:26:05):
is that people choose to drive. And again, I'm never
surprised when certain issues like that, Like I remember one
day that Carrie set in for me, and the big
topic of a conversation that took over is whether or
not you can have a beer at the movies. And
apparently that was the whole show, was beer at the movies.
And then there's the disabled community and the moose licenses

(01:26:26):
and the fact you have to be in close proximity
or within eyesight of the hunter who you've designated to
take down your animal. And now this morning rulls of
the road, So look, I'll stick with it. I got
a couple of people pushing back, saying you're allowed to
drive through the parking spaces. For instance, that the pick
one of the big stores, you know, the cost Cos,
the Walmart's, the grocery retailers, what have you. No, you're not.

(01:26:47):
There's a line, a hard line at the end of it.
It's not just so your rear view camera can pick
it up. Well, you know where to stop. They're designated
as such for a reason. Driving through them. There's one
parking line just off of the McDonald drive at Shoppers.
We call it the Shoppers parking lot. It is wicket tight.
The parking spaces it seemed to be extremely tight, the

(01:27:10):
distance between one parking spot and the other. What I mean,
in the lanes that you can drive in and out
of the parking lot, they're pretty tight. And one day
last week I was going to Shoppers and glowing to
Global Pet Food to get a collagen stick for the puppy.
Missus comes through gotten through about six or eight parking
spaces on the diagonal to get back to try to

(01:27:31):
get up by McDonald drive and get out of the
parking lot. No, you're not supposed to drive through the
parking space. Okay, let's get a break and when we
come back, Jeff's got some concerns about the courts on
the West Coast, and then whatever you want to talk about,
don't go away.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
You were listening to a rebroadcast VOCM Open line. Have
your say by calling seven oh nine at 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 2 (01:28:01):
Welcome back to the show. Let's go to line number three. Jeff,
you're on the air. Hi, Patty, how's it going great today?
You good?

Speaker 8 (01:28:09):
Thanks?

Speaker 5 (01:28:10):
So I'm just calling in I'm on shore.

Speaker 9 (01:28:12):
Maybe you could give me some direction I or find
the answer for me.

Speaker 5 (01:28:16):
So I guess I'll give you a little overview.

Speaker 9 (01:28:18):
On Monday, I went to have papers filed at the
court here in Stephenville, where I'm located, and I was
told that the service wasn't being offered until further notice.
So I said, well okay, So I assumed that I
could go into corner Brook have them filed. I should
have checked before I went. So when I went, I

(01:28:38):
was told that I couldn't file them there because it's
out of dirt excuse me, out of dr area, and
I would have would have had to be done in Stephenville.
But where Steveville wasn't filing them.

Speaker 7 (01:28:49):
They weren't sure.

Speaker 9 (01:28:50):
They weren't sure what I could do, so Davie, they
promised to get back to me by the end of
day on Monday. Uh So, yesterday morning I contacted the
minisfice and she gave me a few Well, the staff
into that office did give me a few contacts to
reach out to yesterday morning, which I did reach out to,
one by phone and one by email, And as of

(01:29:13):
right now, I still have not received a response or
any direction on how do I get these papers filed?

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
Excellent question. I'll have no idea. What's the answer.

Speaker 9 (01:29:24):
Yeah, so that's what I'm wondering. I'd like to get
it done, but you know, I'm not sure where.

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
To go to get it done. I don't know either,
to be honest with you, I don't even know what
another option would be.

Speaker 9 (01:29:36):
Yeah, And I looked online to see if there was
an option to do it online or buy mail, and
it's from you know, from going from different couple different websites.
It don't seem like there is an option. If there is,
it would be great. But yeah, I would if anybody
do have the answer, I'd love to be able to know.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
If I can get you on, Jeff, I'll be happy
to pass it along. But I do not have an
answer for you. I wish I did.

Speaker 9 (01:29:59):
Yeah, yeah, and like and you know, leads me to wonder,
what are you know, perhaps people that don't have the
transportation to Corner Brooker, you know, can just get up
and go in if even if that is the solution eventually,
how are the people you know into the area, especially
the people that you know don't have vehicles or access
to a vehicle to be able to get in there

(01:30:19):
to file these these papers any you know, even like
porta Bass for instance. I know they're being impacted as well.
And it's you know, quite the journey in to file papers,
you know, for or do any other court services that
they may need.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
It's an excellent point and it's something that I'll try
to get an answer for you. I got to contact
that justice and maybe they can give you a very
quick answer, and if and when they do, I'll talk
about it on the show. And hopefully you're still tuned in.

Speaker 9 (01:30:49):
Absolutely I'll be listening.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
I appreciate your time, Jeff. Let me see what I
can figure out perfect.

Speaker 8 (01:30:53):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
You're welck okay, bye bye. All right, let's go to
line number one. Good morning, and you're on the air.

Speaker 11 (01:31:00):
Good morning, Patty. Happy International Day of Persons with Disabilities
view a Happy initial snow Day or Inaugural snow Day
twenty twenty five. I'm calling today, Patty, to have a
chat with you and the public about respecting the laws

(01:31:22):
around service dogs because there is a growing trend in
Saint John's of people bringing all manner of dogs into
non pet friendly environments, including food establishments and supermarkets, and
it's causing a real problem for persons with disabilities. My

(01:31:47):
own dog, I have a dog who's been with me
now for three years, my second guide dog, and my
dog has been aggressed four times in the past year
by dogs that are accompanied by people who are claiming
they are emotional therapy animals. Emotional therapy animals have no

(01:32:09):
legal access into public spaces that are not pet friendly.
There is no certification for them, There is no training
standard for them. They are not recognized under the disabilities
legislation anywhere in North America. I continually run into situations

(01:32:33):
where people you know, and I don't mind people asking
me for verification of my dog. In fact, I welcome
it because it shows me that other people are also
being vetted. However, the first question that's often asked by
a security guard or an establishment owner or manager is

(01:32:53):
can I please see your papers? There are no papers.
If someone is showing you papers, they are telling you
without telling you that their animal is not a service animal.
The papers come from the Internet or their self generators
on a computer and a printer at home, or somebody
is being taken advantage of by some Internet outfit that

(01:33:18):
sends them a video, you know, a training video and
a piece of paper which are meaningless. There are very
few actually guide dogs, in particular in Saint John's less
than a dozen.

Speaker 2 (01:33:33):
So there's that.

Speaker 11 (01:33:35):
Also. Many of the dogs that all of the dogs
that have come after my dog were very small breeds,
things that we would call lap dogs. Nobody trains that
those breeds for service dogs. It's just not happening anywhere.
Service dogs are specifically bred for purpose, and one of

(01:33:59):
the outcomes of that breeding intention is to produce dogs
that are extremely gentle and docile, which makes them really
vulnerable to aggressive dogs, because if a dog comes after
my dog, my dog's response is not to fight back,

(01:34:21):
it's to flee. And what might be two minute interaction,
you know, in a space for me where I've got
some dog backing at me and my dog's trying to
pull away and panicking and the other person, you know,
they yell at me, usually because I do call them out,

(01:34:43):
and then they walk away and go on with their day.
But I am now left with a dog that I
had to sit with, sometimes for an hour. Sometimes I
might have to work with that dog with my dog
for a couple of days or weeks to desensitize them
and calm them to go back into the environment or

(01:35:05):
the space where the initial events happened. So there are
service dogs who have had to be retired because of
being traumatized. There doesn't have to be physical contact between
the dogs, the show of aggression is enough to cause damage.
And this is going on I know anecdotally from my

(01:35:31):
friends and other people with disabilities who have dogs in spaces,
really inappropriate spaces right across the city. I would love
for companies that have DEI programs, which I fully fully support,

(01:35:51):
they really need to add a to that and expand
their programming to include accessibility, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion
and accessibility, which will open the doors for them to
get funding to train their staff about how to deal
with situations like this because understandably a lot of security

(01:36:15):
people or people who are in those spaces to regulate behavior,
they don't know what to do and they know that
it's that some questions are appropriate and others are not,
So just to inform everybody, there are two questions that
you can legally ask a disabled person who has a

(01:36:37):
service dog, or any person who claims to have a
service dog. The first question is is your animal and
medical support animal? And the second question is and this
is where you hit gold, the second question is can
you please name one or more tasks your dog is

(01:36:59):
trained to do to support you. Now, my dog, I
can list twenty tasks right off the top of my
head without even trying. Some other people may only be
able to list too, because the dog has a less
complex job. But those are the two questions and simply

(01:37:19):
existing and being cute and furry is not a task.
The other thing, because I do want to inject some
positivity into this, is I would like to just tell
people who have emotional support pets and have psychological or

(01:37:40):
some kind of condition invisible condition that would benefit them
if they had a service dog. Anybody can get a
service dog the same way I got one. It's a
completely barrier free process. You make an application, you do
require documentation, I'm your doctor, just to just and that

(01:38:02):
is not to be a barrier to the process. It
is to assist the training facility in what your needs are.
Because the dogs are individually matched with individuals. So if
you have need of that kind of psychiatric support, you

(01:38:24):
can apply for a psychiatric support dog. They're all trained
at the same handful of facilities around the country, and
there is not a penny charged to the disabled person.
The dog comes to you for free. The training, which
is worth now about eighty thousand dollars, is a lot

(01:38:45):
of type takes to train a guide dog. At this point,
right you're traveled, you're training. All of those things are
completely free to you. So there's really no excuse for this.
Other thing is that for the information of business owners,

(01:39:05):
security establishments, and individuals who are doing this. There are
criminal liabilities, There are consequences. If a dog gets injured
or has to be retired because of trauma, you can
be sued and the settlements on these sus can run
into the hundreds of thousands of dollars because the court

(01:39:26):
us these animals as an extension of the person. The
same is true by the way of a wheelchair, and
if you do anything that injures or to break a wheelchair,
for example, the court looks upon that as a physical
assault on the person. The same is true for service animal.

(01:39:51):
And if an animal gets attacked on your premises and
you do not have a petprint, it's not a traditionally
a pet friendly environment. If it were a supermarket or
a restaurant or an airport or someplace like that, the
owner of that establishment can also be sued because they

(01:40:11):
have a duty of care. And there are also public
health implications. So I would ask people to really consider
what you are doing. If you are doing this, to
understand that there could very well be dire consequences for
you if something were to happen. And also you are

(01:40:34):
appropriating a right that belongs to persons with disabilities who
have very few other ways of like we have so
much limited access, especially in Saint John's. I also know
because I overheard a conversation in a restaurant that there
is at least one landlord in Saint John's who will

(01:40:57):
not rent to anybody now who claims to have any
kind of service animal, because they had their rental property
wrecked by a so called service dog who was left
home all day Clue number one while the owner went
to work and was backing all day. Right, So this

(01:41:18):
is having like implications and harms and a very very
marginalized and underprivileged community in this province.

Speaker 2 (01:41:30):
And what breed is your dog?

Speaker 11 (01:41:32):
My dog is a Labrador Retriever, So generally speaking, service dogs,
they're larger dogs. They're dogs, like I said, that are
bred for gentleness and docility, so you'll and high intelligence.
So you'll see Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Standard Poodles, German Shepherds,

(01:41:54):
Saint Pierre's. But they're all sort of larger dogs. It's
not a dog you're going to carry in a cart. Really,
it's not a dog you can slip into a purse,
which people do, or grocery bag to hide them. And
it's not a tiny little dog, and they're not reactive dogs.
You know they're not. If my dog we're backing in

(01:42:17):
a supermarket the way that's or any other sort of
public place in the way that these dogs are behaving.
I'm not talking about an alert dog, which gives one
bark right to attract attention. I'm talking about yapping, barking dogs,
dogs that are reacting to what's happening around them. The
owners should know that that behavior is actually a sign

(01:42:39):
of anxiety in the dog. So you're not even doing
your dog any favor by bringing them into these places
the dogs stressed.

Speaker 2 (01:42:48):
Right, So just a couple of very quick ones before
I let you go. So documentation at this point is
only in the form of a letter from a health professional.

Speaker 15 (01:42:56):
Right.

Speaker 11 (01:43:00):
That is a documentation that people are presenting, But that
is not verification that the dog is a service job.

Speaker 2 (01:43:07):
So that's what I'm asking about this. What is verification.

Speaker 11 (01:43:12):
It's verification that it might be verification that the person
has some sort of medical issue, but it's not verification
that the dog is a service shock.

Speaker 2 (01:43:22):
I guess that's my question, is what can anybody have
as actual verification that that dog is a service dog.

Speaker 11 (01:43:29):
Okay, so we do have ID cards and the card
will have the logo of the training facility on it,
kind of like a driver's license. It has a lot
of information on a small card. So it's a picture
I d online. It's a picture of me sitting with
my dog. We're both very visible. It tells the dog's name,

(01:43:52):
when the dog graduated, what the estimated retirement date will be,
where the dog was trained. Then you flip the card
over and there's a bunch of information about call this
number if you have any questions, not a website, a
phone number. Yes, And there's a signature on the back
of the card that I think is the Attorney General

(01:44:14):
of Canada. I'm not sure about that, but there is
a signature that you can't really make a house.

Speaker 2 (01:44:19):
I really appreciate the time, and you know, it does
indeed cause a lot of havoc and additional unnecessary concern
when people pretend that their animal is a service dog
versus an actual service dog. A friend of mine who
lives in Halifax, his father has a service dog. It's
a Bernese Mountain dog. So I know the most common

(01:44:39):
are the ones that you mentioned, the two Retrievers, German Shepherds,
standard Poodle, and the intelligence of those dogs and the
temperament of those dogs make them ideal for this particular role.
What would also be helpful and I'll get your thoughts
on this quickly before I go. There's no national registry
for service dogs, so I think that could possibly be
a help as well. What do you think?

Speaker 11 (01:45:00):
I completely agree with you one hundred percent. I also
feel that there should be more enforcement. I really had
to dig around to get the information I've given you
this morning, but anybody who questions anything I have to
say can sit down and google these things. It's very
easy to find on the internet. Just a question to

(01:45:22):
your Jack. You know your chat ai chatbot will bring
you to all the information. But I agree with you.
I think a national registry would be a really great idea,
and I think it will put a lot of fraudulent
trainers and internet frauds because I kind of think that

(01:45:45):
a lot of people are being taken advantage of. And
if you are if you have any kind of medical issue,
whether it be psychiatric or otherwise, and you are relying
on a dog that a trainer that was not certified
to train dogs for this purpose trained. You're at risk

(01:46:06):
because these trainers, the trainers who train service dogs, not
only have advanced advanced training in canine psychology canine behavior
at the university degree they had that, but in addition
to that, they have specialized training in the disability. When

(01:46:27):
I went to get my first service dog, they were
answering questions I didn't even know enough yet to ask, right, So,
the trainers that are training service dogs are attached to
accredited facilities. The standards and the testing, all of these
things are international standards.

Speaker 2 (01:46:47):
Right understood. And I just have to jump in because
I'm extremely late for the break. But this has been
a very helpful conversation. I appreciate you doing it.

Speaker 11 (01:46:54):
I appreciate you too, Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
Welcome by bye. There was a lot to that. Let's
take a break, don't go away, welcome back to the show.
Just picking up on a couple of things that anam
alone had to say about service dogs. So got an
email saying doesn't that business owner have the right to
refuse entry to a person with the service dog. The
short answer is no, they have the legal right to
accompany their handlers into anywhere that's considered open to the public.

(01:47:17):
So that's the short answer. No, not allowed to do
it at all. And if you have experienced that, then
you can absolutely document the incident itself, reported to the
appropriate authority and go from there. So no, it doesn't
matter where we're talking. If it's considered open to the public,
then you have to admit the handler and their service dog.
And you know, it's a shame to know that there's

(01:47:38):
people out there pretending that their animal is a service
dog when it's not. And then I think she put
forward a cautionary note about ensuring that the trainer that
you're using to train up your service dog is an
actual service dog trainer worth the appropriate credentials and experience
and actual training in canine psychology and canine behavior and

(01:47:59):
the so some interesting stuff inside of that. All right,
we are going to get a break for the eleven
thirty news, but fair warning, and no surprise, many people
sending me notes and talking to Dave saying it's getting
particularly greasy out there. I have no idea how much
snow has fallen at this moment in time, but apparently
the roads are pretty slick. So Judge yourself accordingly, let's
get a break and when we come back, Tum the

(01:48:21):
show left for you at the topic.

Speaker 1 (01:48:22):
You know what it's up to you don't go away the
Tim Power Show during the conversation weekday afternoons at four
pm on your VOCM.

Speaker 2 (01:48:31):
Welcome back to the show. Some of the emails make
me scratch my head and one such an email during
the newscast was, you know, the folks, the inspectors at
the Canadian Food Inspection Agency deserve to be harassed, deserve
to receive death threats because of the way that the
Ostrich farm call was handled. Look, it was hand fisted
and handled poorly and poorly executed. I think that's a

(01:48:52):
fair consensus out there on that front. But how and
why are we all of a suddenly had a place
where we think it's a good idea to harass people
to the point where the Canadian Food Inspectum Agency is
no longer providing a spokesperson to do media interviews regarding
avian flu. Pretty important conversation here. Millions of birds have
been called in North America because of the avian flu,

(01:49:13):
which is highly contagious. It's now proven to be able
to be transmitted species to species. There was a house
cat in the United States died from the avian flu. So,
regardless of what you think about the Otrich farm business,
we really do need information from the CFIA on things
like avian flu outbreaks because it has been a huge problem.
So now they can rest on things like privacy concerns

(01:49:36):
and not sharing information based on these turkey farm outbreaks
in Ontario, the five farms, we don't know which ones
they are, have no earthly idea of exactly how many
birds were put down or called as a result of
this avian flu outbreak, but it's just a clear statement
about where we are. Is that all of a sudden
people think that's okay, that's a good idea that should
be allowed, it should be expected. No, because now we're

(01:50:00):
in the dark about trying to figure out exactly what's
going on with the APM flu. You might not think
it's a big deal, and I'm not trying to put
us in some sort of pandemic panic mode, but information
about it is probably an important thing to be able
to share. But if they're unwilling because of what happened
on the heels of the Ostrich farm issue, I don't
know why that's a good thing. And addition to that is,

(01:50:21):
you know there's always going to be emails say, how
can we don't talk about this? How can we don't
talk about that? And one such email says, why aren't
we talking about the narcotics that have been stolen from
in this case, most recently the Janeway. Well we did,
and we talked about it yesterday. We could talk about
it today. So the fact of the matter is the
R and C were called of the thirtieth of June
to the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Center to investigate

(01:50:46):
narcotics that were stolen. Apparently the two most common narcotics
stolen are lorazepan, which is adavan as it's known on
the street, and morphine. So the fact of the matter
is the investigation has now been concluded and no check
will be late. So yes, we did indeed talk about
it on the program, and it is important topic. The
scourge of drugs on the street has led to a

(01:51:07):
lot of societal concerns, a lot of societal ills, and
lots of crime. So yeah, we did talk about it.
We're happy to talk about it, and it's not an
isolated incident, they go out and talk about just how
common it has become in the recent past. I had
a number here recently, from twenty twenty to mid August
of this year, there was somewhere in the neighborhood of
ninety eight instances of missing medication. They go on to say,

(01:51:30):
in some cases, multiple medications were reported missing on the
same day at the same facility. So they can be
as small as a missing pill or a missing patch,
but it can be large quantities of narcotics stolen. How
no charges are late. I have no earthly idea. I
don't know what the investigation look like, but you would
think now NLLL services are saying they're going to enhance

(01:51:51):
surveillance and security around the place where these narcotics are
secured or stolen, but you would have thought that it'd
be in place anyway. So there has to be a
limited number of people who have access to these pharmaceutical cabinets.
And in the case of the Januay, we don't know
if it's one cabinet or multiple cabinets were compromised and
the drug stolen, but you would think that there would

(01:52:13):
be a very few people that actually have access, you know,
It's the same thing when we talk about access to
our medical records. Now that we've digitized virtually everything, some
it's been quite helpful. We can go to your my
gov account, the health portion, and you know, get updates
on results of your blood work and diagnosic imaging and
those types of things. But it's the nosey nuisances who
get into your personal medical records and they have no

(01:52:35):
business being in them. And we've heard these stories many,
many times over the years. Some of the repercausions are
reprimands or suspensions, when in fact, any violation of my
privacy on that front that should kind of remove you
from the system. We kind of don't need you working
in the healthcare system if you're going to be doing
those types of things. So I've been asked, how can
the ioudy justify no charges. I have no idea, nor

(01:52:58):
do I know how I could possibly answer that particular question.
But anyway, one more in reference to what we don't
talk about it in this case, the allegations that we're
afraid to talk about which is simply not true. We're
not afraid to talk about anything on the program, whether
you bring it up where I bring it up and
this is the case of the Prime Minister and his
background with Brookfield assets. Okay, so when the legislation was

(01:53:21):
passing through the House of Commons regarding things like the
Major Project's Office and Bill Canada Homes, those types of things,
at the time, there were amendments brought forward by the
Conservatives to try to ensure as best possible that the
Prime Minister does not indeed bring forward legislation and investment
or spending that influences the value of his stocks, whether

(01:53:42):
it be in Brookfield or otherwise. That's going to be
a monumental task, no question. So Brookfield sits on somewhere
close by a trillion dollars in assets, including things like
investment in natural gas, investment in things like modular homes.
And tomorrow morning we'll dig into the Parliamentary Budget Office
report on the number of homes that we're tall were

(01:54:02):
going to get built versus what the Parliamentary Budget Officer
thinks will be built. But the question will be regarding
the Prime Minister's background is if a blind trust is
to go to mechanism and he should not be meeting
with anybody that's in control of Brookfield itself and or
managing his assets in the what people refer to as
a blind trust. But what are the options? You know,

(01:54:25):
it was argued, remember it was pretty clear when Prime
Minister Harper was going through the exact same test ethically,
ethically and otherwise. Is that the blind trust was argued
by the conservatives of the time that it was the
only mechanism available. And so consequently, as long as all
the guardrails and the blind trust rules are adhered to,
then what else are we going to do? So some

(01:54:46):
will assert that Mark Karney should have divested of all
his holdings or you know, keeping his own vehicle in
his own home, and you know, whatever's any he's savings
the counter, he's checking the counter, he's our RS fees.
But what we really are going to do into the
future is that to run as a leader of a
party upon success and sitting as the prime minister, you

(01:55:08):
have to divest everything. Boy, that's going to keep an
awful lot of people from saying that the hell with that.
I've worked a lifetime to have that amount of value
or worth in my portfolio. And the same person sent
me an email saying Brookfield stocks are up fifty three percent.
That's not true. So do we have to do everything
possible in the current mechanism of blind trust to ensure

(01:55:31):
that there is no self serving moves made by the
Prime Minister? Of course, and I think everybody in the
right mind would agree with that particular sentiment or stance
on it. My question would basically be, if it's not
a blind trust, what else is available? What else can
we do? Because I don't think we're ever going to
see the day where you have to divest yourself of
all of your holdings to be a leader of a

(01:55:52):
political party on the federal front. I think the same
thing can be said as being a premier in any
of the problems across the country. So no, we've talked
about it in the past, We're happy to talk about
it in the future. And the PBO report is on
my reading list for this afternoon. I know it came
out yesterday. I just didn't have a chance to give
it a careful enough reading to speak to it in

(01:56:13):
any semblance of understanding or authority. But that'll be on
the list for tomorrow morning's discussion for sure. Plenty reaction
to the service dog story. I'm not surprised, and popular
comments in there is that, you know, for people to
use for tend service dogs or emotional support dogs, whichever thing.

(01:56:34):
They're not treated the same way via legislation as service dogs,
but they are a thing. But it doesn't mean that
every business that's open to the public needs to accommodate
your emotional support dog. And that's just based on the legislation.
It's not based on what I think is reasonable or
worthwhile or enforceable. But the service dog conversation, if it's
open to the public, you must allow the handler and

(01:56:55):
their service dog to come in and con talk to
their business or eat their launch or whatever it is.
Let's check in on Twitter for the maybe the final
time this morning for vasim upoln you note that day.
You can follow us Sarah pass along in your comments
and anything you hear on the show, bring up a
topic that you'd like to hear more consideration on conversation
on the program. Same thing you can do in the email.
Let's open on a feosm dot com when we come back.

(01:57:15):
Another segment left from the show for you don't go away.
Welcome back to the show. Let's go to line number
three and sak it more to the Universal Design Network
chair and President. That's Sandra Cummings and minute Kisandra, you
are on the air, really appreciate it.

Speaker 16 (01:57:34):
We just want to really acknowledge the International Day of
Persons with Disabilities today, December third, and we want to
celebrate the one billion people worldwide living with disabilities and
the over thirty percent of Newfoundlanders who identify with disabilities,
and we want to highlight that universal design isn't just
about ramps in elevators. It's about ensuring that everyone can

(01:57:58):
fully participate, regardless of age or ability in our community's
workplaces and culture. And we really want everybody today to
look at their spaces and see who's being excluded and
let's really help make Newfoundland the most successful place to live, work,
in play. So thanks for taking our call.

Speaker 2 (01:58:17):
Happy to do it, you know, just from where I sit,
and my limited understanding of the issue is if people
do not have a disability, then they probably don't recognize
some of the hurdles and obstacles that you and Nancy
Read and others talk about. So being mindful of your
space and how it accommodates or does not accommodate peoples
with disabilities, is that little extra effort that most people

(01:58:39):
don't put in, and consequently we make poor design choices,
we make poor policy when in fact, the implication here
is for about a third of the population to be
left on the outside looking in if we don't all
take careful consideration of how we build, how we develop,
how we craft policy.

Speaker 13 (01:58:56):
And it's a bit of.

Speaker 16 (01:58:57):
All things like outdoor spaces, educational materials, educational environments. Right,
And I think the thing that we really want to
highlight in universal Design is it's a lifelong vision and
it's a holistic vision.

Speaker 15 (01:59:13):
And so the.

Speaker 16 (01:59:14):
Other piece about that is think about if you had
a baby in your arms and you were trying to
get up a set of stairs with a stroller and
a baby, or if you had a catastrophic leg injury.
You know, it's great to have all sorts of nice things,
but we are all aging, we're all prone to catastrophic injuries,

(01:59:37):
we're all prone to life changes. And so really did
a mindset about being very inclusive of everyone absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:59:46):
You know, I know people who are in the world
of building, whether it be major contractors and home builders,
what have you. Into the future, it might be you,
as you're rightf we point out so that concept of
universal design, and you're right, it's not just about rampster
what have you. And it costs less to build with
the universal design in mind versus a retrofit into the future.

Speaker 16 (02:00:06):
Absolutely, and there's been some really good research done on
this that it does. It may cost a little bit
more initially to ensure things are reinforced, like studs in
bathroom walls so you can reinforce for cold bars or
grab wars, or making doors a little bit wider, but
in the end there's a huge savings if you have

(02:00:26):
to try and figure out fixing things things like stacking elevators.
There's our stacking closets. Rather, you may very well want
to live in a two story homes, but think about
stacking elevators and getting that closet story and getting that
prepared if you should need to put in a lift
in your home.

Speaker 2 (02:00:47):
Simple thing. Yeah, and you know, take this for how
it's intended. Some of the things like wider doors, wider hallways,
reinforce studs in bathrooms and other areas of the home,
like when it comes to doorways, and always actually aesthetically
pleasing in addition to be inaccessible.

Speaker 16 (02:01:03):
Absolutely, and good luck trying to move couches and furnitures
in narrow passageways.

Speaker 5 (02:01:09):
Right.

Speaker 16 (02:01:10):
It just is about making life kind of easier for
everybody in every aspect of life.

Speaker 2 (02:01:15):
Absolutely, anything in particular going on in your world today
for International Person's International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Speaker 16 (02:01:22):
Well we've, thanks to Victoria blogged in our wonderful social
media person We have some posts going out just to
raise awareness. We have been working with the City of
Saint John's to develop two new Universal Design resources that
should be coming out shortly. One is a home building
checklist that helps people kind of figure out what things

(02:01:44):
they should think about ahead of times, and also a
UD resource. So those will be coming out shortly and
we're really excited to share them, and we're so excited
to have worked with the City of Saint John's on it.

Speaker 2 (02:01:55):
We're happy to share the information when everything comes to
a head. I appreciate the time this morning, Sandra, Thank you, thanks.

Speaker 16 (02:02:01):
So much for giving us the time. Have a great day,
Stay safe in the snow.

Speaker 2 (02:02:04):
The very same to you. Bye bye bye, there you go.
Sandra Cummins is the Universal Design Network President and chair.
Let's go to line number two. Good morning, Julie or
on the.

Speaker 13 (02:02:14):
Air, Good morning, how are you?

Speaker 2 (02:02:17):
I'm okay? How about you?

Speaker 13 (02:02:21):
You're just so, you're just okay?

Speaker 2 (02:02:24):
Uh yeah, no, I'm well, thank you.

Speaker 13 (02:02:27):
Yes, I wants to the finish line.

Speaker 2 (02:02:29):
Almost there.

Speaker 13 (02:02:31):
I had to call because I had a pleasant thing
happened to me, okay, and I had and I had
to send a bouquet. I lost my purse last week,
terrible traumatic experience, and had I had a found.

Speaker 2 (02:02:50):
Who found it? Where was I?

Speaker 13 (02:02:52):
And I wanted to send a bouquet to the lovely
young woman who returned it to me fully intact. And
I had to go and see her and thank her
and bring her some chocolates. And I had to say
it was Tim Horton's that rope wall playing.

Speaker 2 (02:03:13):
Terrific. You know. It's a good reminder that there's still
some good, honest people out there, for sure.

Speaker 13 (02:03:19):
Exactly, And that's why I had to share my story.

Speaker 2 (02:03:25):
Yeah, I mean, you could only hope that that would
be the normal occurrence, but unfortunately they seem to be
the exception versus the role these days. But I'm really
pleased when people pass along a bit of good news here,
because there's plenty of bad.

Speaker 13 (02:03:39):
We had. It was gone for a long while, so
I really had given up, hope.

Speaker 2 (02:03:44):
So what was in between the week between you lost
it and then you got it back? So was it
just found in some obscure place in the restaurant or
what's the week all about?

Speaker 13 (02:03:58):
I'm not one hundred percent sure. I'm not sure. I'm
not one hundred and clear on what happened. I saw
the young woman who retrieved it, and she said that
it was passed along to her by a customer. So
I really have the bouquet to send to the customer,
which I don't know who that might be, but hopefully
they're listening and know that they're appreciative.

Speaker 2 (02:04:22):
Absolutely, And I'm really glad that this is the outcome, Julie,
because it's a real nuisance to lose anything, but when
you lose your pursel with whatever money might be in
and all your IDs and whatever else that you carry
around your purs this is a good outcome.

Speaker 15 (02:04:34):
Exactly.

Speaker 13 (02:04:35):
It was a wonderful thing. And hopefully if someone else
has an unfortunate experience to lose their teeths or their
purse or both, hopefully not and they'll get the same outcome.

Speaker 2 (02:04:47):
Hope. So thanks for this this morning. I appreciate your time,
thanks so much, having the same to you.

Speaker 15 (02:04:52):
Bye bye, thank you bye.

Speaker 2 (02:04:55):
And a couple of the folks who enjoy the little
sports vignettes off the top. If this also falls in
the envelope of why I don't mention this? Why didn't
you mention that? And like Dave mentioned to me during
one of the breaks that the Jay's added to the
pitching rotation. This guy Cody Ponce who had a huge
year in Korea. He had like two hundred and fifty
two strikeouts. Now it's worth pointing out that in his

(02:05:15):
major league career here in North America he wasn't great,
so something has improved. But add to it Eric Lauer
where he learned his pitching game, Winnie pitching Korea as well.
So adding pots to the rotation now looks for a
pretty congestent rotation for the Ploo had the Blue Jays
And here comes Sarah Strickland as I started talking about
the Blue Jays and also being asked, what do I

(02:05:36):
think the chances are the Jay signing college Schwarber limited
if any, probably not. Now, Schwarber strikes out a lot,
but like most power hitters, that is the case. But
there's some interesting stats regarding left handed batters versus left
handed pitching the most home runs in the majors last year.
For left handed batters versus left handed pitching, the Yankees
as a team hit thirty four. The Dodgers as a

(02:05:59):
team hit twenty eight. College Forber had twenty three himself,
as many as the Mets, more than the Atlantics, and
more than the Cubs. And that's the list Yankees, Dodgers,
College Forber, Mets Athletics, and the Cubs. Let's check in
out on the Twitter box for the final time of
the morning re VIOSI up, you know what to do.
I've been encouraged many times to also put the show

(02:06:20):
on Blue Sky. How popular is Blue Sky out there?
I wonder? Is that see the type of spike and
enrollment that it did early on in the Elon Musk
takeover at Twitter. I have no idea I might do it,
but I've got my hands kind of full with the
limited social media exposure that we currently have. Email addresses
open on ATVOCM dot com. Obviously, if you're listening to

(02:06:40):
the program this morning, and you're in your vehicle or
you're about to head out, it's worthwhile putting our winter
driving headset on our mindset, because apparently it's really greasy
and tricky out through this morning, so that's a matter
of speed and traveling distance between you and the car
in front of you, all those types of things. So
hopefully we all get through a safe day here. We

(02:07:02):
did not get a chance to speak with Minister Peden
about some further clarification on twenty four to seven snow clearing,
but it's just the start of it, so we'll see
if we can get them tomorrow. All right, big thanks
to twelve hands, We will indeed pick up this conversation
again tomorrow morning right here on VOCMN big Land 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 in the morning. How about

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