Latest / Kvetch & Release / AM800 Roundtable w Kieran McKenzie, Molly Allaire, & Craig Pearson

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AM800 Roundtable w Kieran McKenzie, Molly Allaire, & Craig Pearson · Kvetch & Release

0:00
Good morning everyone. I hope you're all doing well nine oh seven. As
0:04
you just heard, your ears aren't deceiving you. I'm not Dan McDonald,
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John Lidkey sitting in. If you've been listening all morning, which I do
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recommend that you do, you would have heard Dan from five to nine filling
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in on the Morning Drive with Mike Kacook. He'll be there for the rest
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of the week and I'll be here for the rest of the week filling in
0:22
for him. It is Wednesday, middle of the week. Time for our
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round table cloud. It's not quite a round table, but we can get
0:30
around it sort of. Glad to be joined by Windsor's Word nine counselor Kieren
0:34
McKenzie. Kieren, how are you doing? Thanks for having me, John
0:37
doing well. Good to hear Amisburg counselor Molly Alaire, first time on the
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show. How you doing, Molly great? Thanks for having me, Thanks
0:45
for joining. Sorry you don't get the full Dan McDonald experience. It's a
0:48
subpower one at best. I recognize that that's perfect. Also joining us,
0:53
Windsor Star Managing editor Craig Pearson. How are you doing, Craig? Pretty
0:56
good? John? Thank you so much for having me back. Glad to
0:59
have you all. I know we were on the last time. I guess
1:02
we were banned with the host. Yeah, so this is my first time
1:04
having you but okay, well, thanks for joining well diving in. Unfortunately,
1:10
this is I'm getting so I'm so sick of having this conversation. But
1:15
I don't know how we can address it without having the same conversation over and
1:19
over and over again. And it's not a boring conversation by any means.
1:25
It's a bleak and it's a tragic one. We have a community alert being
1:27
issued by the Windsor Essex County Health Units Opioid and Substance Use Notification System due
1:34
to fifteen opioid overdoses reported among emergency department visits, eight of which involved fentanyl,
1:42
between May twenty sixth and June one. Partners in the region healthcare sector
1:48
are monitoring this increase and are working to understand more about the cases. Unfortunately,
1:53
this is the second alert that has been issued in Windsor Essex in less
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than one month. On May twenty first, an alert was issued after there
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were thirteen opioid overdoses reported among emergency department visits between May twelfth and May eighteenth,
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with all thirteen at that time involving fentanyl ker and I just like,
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I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. When
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we were talking before we started here, you know what can we do?
2:19
We did it, We did the thing, we had the CTS and then
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we shut it down. Yeah, well we didn't shut it down. No,
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we did it. The province shut it down. And I've said it
2:29
before, I'll lay again the Ford government is absolutely incompetent on this file.
2:36
Incompetent. It's maddening. People are literally dying in our streets, in their
2:44
homes and we are studying, and I'm using the air quotes, studying whether
2:49
or not something that has been a proven best practice, and it's safe consumption
2:53
sites is a proven best practice. Almost and almost you could put in the
2:57
least we could do to help keep people safe. The government, supposedly because
3:01
I don't think they are, has been studying this now for almost or over
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a year. Uh, and we're no closer. They won't divulge where we
3:10
are. There's no progress report that's come. And while these studies, studies
3:15
again air quotes have been going on, they're not doing that work. I
3:17
don't believe it. They'd have to prove it to me that they are.
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I want to know where they are with respect to this. I even want
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to know what they're studying. Because the issue of safe consumption sites has been
3:28
studied to death. That's that's a really poor choice of words there. But
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it's been studied. We know it works. It's they've they've decided now to
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know to not proceed with any of the with any of the applications that are
3:40
out there. There's several across the province, and in the meantime, I
3:45
haven't seen any additional investments coming from the province to address all of the mental
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health and addiction need. Housing need is at the in the affordable and and
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UH UH supportive housing UH is dramatically underfunded. It's failure after failure after failure.
4:02
I'm putting it squarely at the feet of the provincial government. I hope
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Andrew Dowie is listening. Your government is failing. I think he's failing.
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It needs to change, needs to change right now. You know it was
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working. It was a slowly building process to see the CTS safepoint, you
4:21
know, get to the full numbers of full capacity, but nobody expected overnight
4:26
that to occur. It was always going to be something that took time to
4:29
develop trust and get the buy in of the clients that we're going to be
4:32
using that space, people who are often adverse to interacting with community figures for
4:38
various reasons going back at time infint item. But it's also a regional was
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a regional facility, and now that being closed means that the rest of the
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region is still having to just make do with what existed prior to that.
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And Molly, I wonder what the situation is like on the ground when it
4:58
comes to Amersburg and how these issues are dealt with and how it relates to
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us in this whole region as a whole. Yeah, well, honestly,
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I can't really follow up after Karen, he explained it pretty well. But
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at the same time, in Amisburg, we don't have any of these services,
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and that's actually something when we were campaigning people asked us, and it's
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true, we don't have any of these services, and luckily we do have
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the Windsor Police Amasburg detachment, so we kind of follow on their coast program,
5:27
which is an amazing program. So whenever we find these instances in our
5:31
town, we are able to contact our police and they get the assistance that
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they need through the Windsor police, which is amazing, but it's so challenging
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having a small town and knowing that this is in your town and us can't
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do it right, so we always fall on the bigger system, which is
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great and now that we have access to it, it's amazing. But yeah,
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basically, these people come out and take care of the problem. We're
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fortunate to have that, but I wish there was more in our town that
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we could do. But it's the same thing. It's a struggle of everyone
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needs to work together, and we literally have falling pieces. No one's sticking
6:06
with one thing for long enough to see it function, which is unfortunate.
6:12
Drug use affects all of us collectively. It doesn't mean that each one of
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us is using drugs, but we all know people who use drugs. We
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all know someone who has been lost as a result of it or who is
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struggling right now and needs help overcoming it. And Craig, you know,
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I mean, you cover this, you oversee this. It's a file that
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has been evolving in the wrong direction for the past at least ten years plus.
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I wonder what your thoughts are when I mean from the media angle,
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are you like me, just like don't how do we talk about this again?
6:45
How do you showcase this again? Other than just push out the press
6:47
release? What's there to say? Well, I actually have no problem with
6:53
the provincial government doing a review. As a matter of fact, I think
6:57
it's prudent. There was a death outside into Toronto area. But that said,
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what I have a problem with is the government apparently slow walking this thing.
7:06
And as a journalist, I'm also offended by the fact that they simply
7:11
won't tell us what is going on. They will not give us not just
7:15
an interim report, but not even indicate what it is they're studying. I
7:19
think that the community has a right to know what they're studying and what they
7:27
have learned so far, and especially I think that they should be giving us
7:31
a hint of when they might finish this review. The Local Consumption and Treatment
7:41
Site which closed on January first because the government decided to shut it down and
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not approve any new ones, and apparently Windsors was considered not yet approved.
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It had already saved about five people. I believe. I mean, that's
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pretty amazing right there. And I think a better course of action would have
8:01
been to conduct the review but allow the ones that are operating to continue operating
8:09
and then find out more about it through the review, which again I think
8:13
is prudent. I just think it's taking way too long and is way too
8:16
obscure. I have to agree with you on the latter points there, I
8:20
guess even so, you know, there's nothing wrong with having in a review
8:24
of a file. And there was a shooting, there was a death as
8:28
outside of it so associatedly. But we've spoken before, Kieran. I mean
8:31
there're shootings often on TTC cars. I don't remember them shutting down the transit
8:35
system as a result of that, or shootings and bars and stop in granting
8:39
liquor licenses. But it's clear that the stigma still exists and it receives added
8:46
attention and scrutiny. And that's where we stand, and hopefully we don't see
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more deaths in the interregnum that we're in right now, but we'll have to
8:56
keep our eyes on it. It's nine to sixteen. We're going to take
8:58
a quick break right now. We'll get back to the Wednesday roundtable. Right
9:01
after this, Hey everyone, we are back. John McKee here on Am
9:05
eight hundred CKLW continuing our round table with Kieren McKenzie, Molli Alaire and Craig
9:11
Pearson. News out of Ottawa. Senior cabinet ministers won't say if the government
9:18
is prepared to release the names of parliamentarians who are alleged to have conspired with
9:22
foreign governments and to have consciously shared sensitive information with their agents, conduct that
9:28
one expert says could be treason. There may still be police investigations, the
9:33
minister said, and details could eventually be released, but it raises questions about
9:37
whether the voting public is going to know who's alleged to have engaged in such
9:41
conduct before the next federal election, expected sometime next year. This was all
9:46
released by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which is a cross
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party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances. Oivey, this one
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hits like a brick to the face. You don't like hearing the words conspiring
10:05
with foreign agents. Kieran, Yeah, Outside interference in elections is a is
10:13
a problem in a lot of places, not just Canada. So let's let's
10:16
and the committee is doing its work, and it needs to do this work
10:22
there there does need to be and that the timing of the election, in
10:26
my opinion, I understand how important it is, especially with you know,
10:31
there's people who are being investigated currently who might have the opportunity to be returned
10:35
back to to to the House once their name is out there associated with this
10:41
issue. I think it's really it's really crucial to that that the due process
10:45
is right and that people's all, everybody's rights are protected within this There's there's
10:50
a bell here that I don't think can be unwrung if the if names are
10:54
spoken before there's a substantial enough body of evidence to take into account that a
11:01
person's professional life will be ruined literally the second after the name is up.
11:07
So like the laying of charges, well, even this person is under investigation
11:13
for potential treason, that's the end of your political career, that is that
11:18
is the end of it. So I think a tremendous amount of care and
11:24
thoroughness, due diligence, you name, it needs to be undertaken before we
11:28
get to that point where those names are public the election, and it is
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my hope is that we can get to that point where there's if there are
11:37
additional measures that need to be taken, that they can be taken in a
11:41
way that makes sense around the electoral cycle. But this is as series as
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it gets for who's going to sit in those seats, and it's really imperative.
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I think that we get it right now, Craig. In the media
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side of things, we take everything that's presented from government, well from anyone
11:58
with a lot of scrutiny, right, but this is for this to be
12:01
alleged from this committee, one would think that they have their ducks in a
12:05
row. What are your thoughts just coming from the newspaper business when you saw
12:09
this story break? Well, one of shock first of all, because I
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agree with you that nobody likes to hear that's happening in your country, when,
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of course, as Karen points out, it's happening in many countries.
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But I will say that the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians no doubt
12:31
put effort into their report. I seriously doubt that they made these allegations frivolously.
12:39
But I can also tell you, as a longtime journalists that you can
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have reports that are incorrect, You can have people go into court and swear
12:48
on the Bible and one would say it was night and the other one would
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say it's day. And I don't think that we are in a spot where
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we can release somebody's name until these allegations are proven, or at the very
13:03
least we'll see if police lay charges. If they lay charges, that means
13:07
they will be going to court, so they will have their day in court.
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And I think that we owe it not just to the individuals, but
13:16
to our system to respect the due process system. Yeah, I mean absolutely
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nobody wants to be rushing to judgment when it comes to elected officials and their
13:28
careers being just completely trounced out. You're not able to go and ask someone
13:33
to put a sign on their lawn. If the newspaper says John Lydkey is
13:37
an alleged the trader to the country, conspiring with whatever hostile or even not
13:41
hostile state. Oh God, what clip did I just give the ether right
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there by saying that? Mall, when you hear something like this, you
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know, sitting on a town council, it's the same, It's like it's
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a government, it's elected officials. And what would it be like if you
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were to find out that one of your colleagues was I don't know, advancing
14:01
the interests of Bermuda or something. Yeah. Actually it's funny because when I
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ran, I always promote transparency and I always say like, no matter what,
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I'm going to be honest and true and I'll let everyone know. But
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getting into politics, I also understand like the liability aspect of you know,
14:18
now, you can't release a name unless it's proven true. So it's all
14:22
alleged right now, we know nothing. It's definitely needs to be further investigated.
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You're right, Craig, Like they did their process and they wouldn't announce
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it if it wasn't even remotely true. So they're concerns. So we have
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to follow those concerns for sure. But it definitely has to be looked into
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further. And I do believe politicians should be held to a higher standard.
14:43
We're role models, right, We're representing our town, our country, our
14:48
city. So it's important to make sure that even though they are role models
14:52
and we think that they're awesome, they have to do their job right.
14:56
They can't be helping out other countries. It's truly important. So yeah,
15:01
if it happened in our town. I mean follow the process. There's a
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process there for a purpose, that's happened before, and I have faith in
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the system, so that's what we have to do. One thing I'd like
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to add, if I'm made John, is that I have a feeling police
15:15
charges or not, these names will not remain secret forever. They are going
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to come out in our system. They're available digitally somewhere, and that's a
15:26
good point. I have a feeling it's only a matter of time. Yeah,
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I would hope that by the time they come out, people who are
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alleged to have done this will have had a chance to defend themselves and maybe
15:41
it'll turn out that defending themselves or not, they did do that, they
15:48
did aspire with foreign agents, and they'll get what they deserve at that point.
15:54
The due process will be afforded to them if it gets to that point.
15:58
We live democracy and it's one of the hallmarks that we have. Kieren,
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I do have one question for you, specifically that I waited to the
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end. The report doesn't only speak about MPs. It speaks about senators as
16:11
well. Senators aren't elected. Yeah, should their names come out? Yes,
16:17
they are part of a transparent they're they're they're still notwithstanding my view that
16:22
they the Senate shouldn't exist, let me start there. But they're a part
16:26
and an important part of the legislative process. They have a significant amount of
16:30
authority and power to alter the the political course that's being undertaken. Take for
16:38
example, just a local example, not not of treason of a bill,
16:44
and that has a very significant local significance locally, The National Urban Park Bill
16:49
is in the Senate right now. Whether or not that bill proceeds is in
16:56
the hands of a handful of senators. So they should be accountable and have
17:00
they have. They have a duty to be accountable. They accept that by
17:03
accepting the role in the appointment. So yes, you know, the same
17:08
standards that apply to elected officials in the House of Commons, I believe should
17:14
apply to senators because they although have perhaps slightly less authority, they still have
17:21
a great deal of authority. I get that. But they're not elected,
17:25
and they're in the position until they're seventy five, So the issue of a
17:29
career ending moment really isn't there. They can't get fired, so they can
17:33
they can be dismissed. There's people who have been there. There's code of
17:36
conduct and do their own chamber. Sure, so you know, if somebody,
17:41
if somebody is named in that report, who sits in the Senate,
17:45
and it's the allegations are proven, they'll be gone obviously. So yes,
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it's a potential, you know, lifetime appointment, but they still have the
17:53
accountabit. Good job not tripping up on that one, Karen, I tried
17:56
real hard, folks. Nine twenty nine. We're going to take a quick
17:59
bree Great now we got the nine thirty information update with Paul McDonald coming up
18:03
right next that don't go anywhere. Good morning, we are back nine thirty
18:07
six. It is the Wednesday Roundtable, joined by Windsor Ward nine Councilor Kieren
18:11
mackenzie, Amersburg Counselor Malli Alaire and Windsor Star Managing Editor Craig Pearson. Programming
18:18
note. Want to let you know, coming up at ten oh five,
18:22
we're gonna be bringing on Windsor to come see MPP Andrew Dowie to respond to
18:27
comments that were made by Ward nine Councilor Kieran McKenzie regarding the CTS Consumption Treatment
18:33
Site and the opioid overdose issue that we're dealing here with in Windsor, as
18:37
well as the print provincial government and the lack of funding. And something tells
18:41
me that I'm going to try to kick Kieran out of the studio, but
18:44
I bet he sticks around because he wants to say something about that one as
18:47
well. Well, I'm glad he's going to call in. Let's get that
18:49
update we've been looking for. There you go. Well, let's dive into
18:52
our next story. Though here on the roundtable at nine thirty seven, Canadians
18:56
considering getting an electric vehicle as their next vehicle purchase remains a tough sell.
19:02
Only eleven percent of new vehicle shoppers in Canada say they are very likely to
19:07
purchase an EV next, a decline of three percent from twenty to twenty three.
19:12
According to latest Stats Canada data, there were five thousand fewer new EV
19:18
registrations in the final quarter of last year compared to the third quarter. Sales
19:23
of gas powered vehicles for most automakers were flat or even slightly down in the
19:29
fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Despite the decline in EV sales, the
19:34
fourth quarter figures were the second best quarter ever in Canada. The overall sales
19:38
for twenty twenty three hit a record which represented a thirty four point six percent
19:44
increase over twenty twenty two. We're looking at the EV plant being built right
19:48
now and the supply chain associated with it. I think one of the big
19:51
issues that we see when it comes to EV purchasing is that the price just
19:53
isn't coming down yet on the vast majority of vehicles. As I was saying
19:56
on the morning drive, you look at the big forward electric lightning f one
20:03
fifty. It can power your house for three days. It costs as much
20:06
as a starter house in some communities. Kieran, what's your thoughts about this
20:11
one? Having watched this file intimately, this is I'm a little surprised by
20:18
the numbers of people are saying that they're they're, they're they're not interested,
20:22
and how elevated they are in purchasing an EV vehicle moving forward. I think
20:27
a lot of it is related to when when these vehicles start to become sort
20:32
of predominant in the marketplace. There's there's a lot of questions around It's not
20:37
just price point, it's you know, charging time, for example, the
20:41
the you know the distance that I can travel on a single charge, and
20:45
whether or not for folks who may be like to get in their car and
20:47
drive to Toronto or wherever it might be that they're going to have to There's
20:51
going to be a certain amount of change that people are going to have to
20:55
adopt in order for these vehicles to make sense to them. Even we're having
20:59
a debate right now around uh charging infrastructure and people who don't have, for
21:03
example, driveways, where and how they would charge their vehicle overnight if they
21:07
wanted to do that by the near their home, and whether or not there's
21:11
a way to install charging infrastructure in the public right away. So those are
21:17
real, Those are real issues, and there's a lot of some larger,
21:21
some smaller, real issues that I think need to be addressed. The technology
21:25
will improve, some of the will address some of the challenges that are that
21:27
are there, but there's some unanswered questions, and I think the consumer market
21:32
is starting to be starting to turn their minds towards that collectively and recognizing that
21:37
there's some questions right now that don't have the best answers. And as a
21:41
result, I'm just going to make the decision to stay with the type of
21:44
vehicle that I've become accustomed to and I know I can rely on and I
21:47
know how it fits into my own life. So but I think with time
21:51
those numbers will change, and certainly the market is going to be evolve because
21:53
the producers are I think, are heavily invested in an evy production. As
22:00
the barriers and hurdles and red flags aren't as viewable, people are going to
22:04
get a lot more interested in the uptake. Ollie, you were talking before
22:10
we started this conversation on air about what the actual reality is like on the
22:14
ground in Amersburg in terms of capacity issues and resident interest. What are you
22:21
hearing and seeing? So I have to go on the record. I love
22:25
my hybrid. So I drive a lime green Prius. It's my favorite.
22:30
Bought it back in twenty fifteen, so I was very fortunate that it was
22:33
literally twenty six thousand dollars brand new, So very fortunate because the cost now
22:37
the affordable there's no real affordable options for vehicles as a whole right now,
22:42
whether it's ev whether it's hybrid, whether it's gas, it's it's unfortunate that
22:48
they're so expensive. So I think that's a big thing taking into people's decision
22:52
makings. But yeah, lack of infrastructure. I think a lot of people
22:56
are very concerned as to where they're going to charge it. Amersburg has three
23:00
locations right now, so unless you can make it to those locations and you
23:04
don't have the infrastructure in your home, you ain't getting an EV chargers or
23:07
an EV car. So that's unfortunate. But we're working on it. It's
23:11
not like we're not trying to make it accessible, but it is one of
23:15
the challenges. So yeah, But like another thing too is h I'm a
23:19
big environmentalist. I think that that's one thing I definitely ran my campaign on
23:25
and it's not all we love the idea of cleaner energy, but like the
23:29
mining process for the metals just to make these batteries is not the best for
23:33
the environment. So then you're exchanging one patrol problem for like mining problems,
23:38
So that comes into effect too. So if you're an environmentalist, is it
23:41
really the best option? So I always think of that thing, like those
23:47
options, but we need to take care of our environment. So right now,
23:51
I don't think because I do like driving to Toronto to do the conferences
23:55
and go visit my sister out in Trenton and to make a trip I'd have
24:00
to charge two or three times just to make it five and a half hours.
24:03
So unfortunately a hybrid is my only way right now. But I mean,
24:07
I think that that's a start. It's better on the environment. I
24:11
definitely get a lot further, but it's all about what you want. I
24:15
don't think that everyone's going to be forced to buy an evy. It's not
24:18
there yet. I hope it comes, but it's baby steps. So smaller
24:22
towns like us compared to the city, there's no access to those charging ports.
24:26
But I do want to say that we're making strides. I mean,
24:30
I fought for it and budget in twenty twenty three we got an electric Zamboni.
24:33
I'm more than excited for that thing to come. I think how amazing
24:37
that's going to be. That people aren't breathing in those fumes and stuff in
24:40
the actual facility itself. I think it's going to be wonderful. The port's
24:44
charged right in the back. I mean, so we're making strides. There's
24:48
steps to making it a better choice. I went to the Auto show last
24:52
year and they had all the electric vehicles set up on like indoor roller coaster
24:55
tracks, so you went up at really sharp angles, and they're letting you
24:57
know, like, look, you can still do all the crazy things people
25:00
do in trucks with these. And I thought to myself and turned to the
25:06
person I was with and said, why didn't they used to do these indoors
25:08
before I went? Because of the emissions. But now I'm thinking, like,
25:15
but the Zamboni emissions are a thing too, albeit on a much smaller
25:19
scale than if n F one fifty was going on a roller coaster track continuous
25:23
for nine hours a day. I digress, Craig, what are your thoughts
25:27
on the state of the transition, And we've got the government telling us I
25:33
think by twenty thirty five it'll be fully electric sales. That seems ambitious.
25:40
It does seem ambitious. But I am glad that we're having this conversation because
25:45
it's important. We have a battery plant, the next Star battery plant that's
25:48
being built here. I for one, am not worried whatsoever. I believe
25:51
it will be fully used. And I'd also like to, however, give
25:56
a shout out to Dave Woodill, the Winter Star reporter who wrote that story
26:00
that we are talking about today. Based on a JD Power survey. JD
26:03
Power is a huge American analytics firm that focuses on consumer trends, especially the
26:11
auto industry. And I think it's notable that we still have a ways to
26:19
go before people want to adopt EV, and it's because of what Kieran and
26:27
Mollie and you John have said already, is just the infrastructure isn't quite there,
26:32
the costs are higher. I will say, though, Mollie that some
26:36
of the newer EV's are apparently getting four hundred to five hundred kilometers on one
26:40
charge, So you know, yours is a little bit earlier because you're an
26:44
early adopter, which is great, good for you. But so those things
26:47
are improving, and I expect to see those types of improvements continue to happen,
26:51
and I expect perhaps slower than what the government has forecasted, but I
26:57
do expect to see EV being adopted. And I, for one, do
27:02
drive a small gas SUV, but I absolutely have been considering an EV for
27:07
a possible future purchase. I'm not in the market right now, though,
27:11
but it is possible. You know, I can understand people being concerned hearing
27:18
this conversation because the whole conversation for the last two and a half years has
27:22
been here's our silver bullet. This is going to be what's dragged us out
27:27
of the dole drums for the past. And I don't think at all that
27:30
the EV industry is going to be going anywhere. And in fact, I
27:33
think the argument could be made that if you look at what the vehicles that
27:37
we're going to be getting on the line here at WAP are going to be.
27:40
Those are gonna be lower priced evs, more accessible your monthly payments if
27:45
you decide to go lease it or even buy it out right, not going
27:48
to be the most insane sick sticker shock. They're not going to be seventy
27:52
five eighty thousand dollars vehicles. That's the biggest thing, right Karen is trying
27:56
to find that price point where people are gonna say, oh, I'm willing
28:00
to maybe pay a bit more than a gas vehicle because I can see the
28:03
savings on the actual input of gas. Yeah. Look, the industry is
28:08
going to evolve right now, the production of these vehicles. The technology is
28:15
largely being driven by the industry directly. It hasn't it's they're out there in
28:22
the marketplace. But I think as consumers start to become increasingly invested in evs
28:29
UH, they're going to have their own demands that they're going to put on
28:32
the industry, and the industry will respond to that. That's one of the
28:36
beautiful aspects I think of our just the general system that we have. Consumer
28:41
demand drives and consumer needs drive industrial and industrial advancement and technology advancement, and
28:48
all of that's going to happen. So but it's going to take time.
28:52
That's the that's the challenge we're gonna and we're gonna have to grow into it
28:55
to a certain extent. My hope that and what we're try trying to do
29:00
with the City of Windsor. We have a number we just dealt with a
29:02
few reports that our Environment, Transportation, Public Safety Standing Committee dealing with some
29:07
of the issues that the municipality has to deal with with respect to electric vehicles.
29:11
There's another report that's going to come forward looking at again UH capacity that
29:15
we have and the potential capacity that we would have to charge vehicles in public
29:19
spaces and different initiatives that we can consider to UH, whether it be investments
29:25
in in parking lots UH for charging stations, UH and other other types of
29:30
initiatives that can help us to to sort of make it easier for consumers to
29:33
make those choices. So I think it'll be a process, my hope,
29:38
especially given the fact that we're so heavily invested in in the success of electric
29:42
vehicles in Windsor Essex County, that that these changes and that that these the
29:48
investments that are needed to be made in order to facilitate the transition come sooner
29:52
rather than later. I to agree with you that I believe I too agree
29:59
with you, Karen, that I believe that the free market capitalism is going
30:03
to be what I eventually will dictate when people are comfortable with making that purchase.
30:08
That's how it always goes, right, And until we get to that
30:11
point, we're going to continue to have this conversation. I'm gonna take a
30:15
quick break right now, but we'll get back after that with more with the
30:18
round Table. So don't go anywhere, Hey, folks, we're back John
30:22
Lytte here on AM eight hundred. It's the Wednesday round Table. We're gonna
30:25
keep it going. In this last segment here, the NDP want a grocery
30:29
store Staples price cap on those staples that you get at the grocery store,
30:33
bread, milk, apples, et cetera. The Libs are saying, not
30:37
gonna work. Our question for the round table. Do you support a price
30:41
cap on staples, Kieran, grocery stars are gouging us. They need to
30:45
be regulated. So yes, it's a dramatic, drastic measure. But you
30:51
know, I think that that that measure needs to be taken under very very
30:56
serious consideration, because I don't think that they're doing right now bias. Thank
31:00
you, Mollie. Do you think there should be a price cap on staples
31:03
at the grocery store? No, I don't actually, and I think that
31:07
would directly affect farmers. I mean, come on, farmers are the ones
31:11
getting you all that food, and then you're telling them how much they can
31:15
earn, and obviously it would just come out of them. So that's unfortunate.
31:19
But I know you said keep this short. If you did it,
31:22
you'd it would be so tricky. And there's other arty areas like Quebecs did
31:26
it for their milk and it's highest in the country. Exactly, it's not
31:30
functional. There are other measures that you can do, so just yeah,
31:34
I don't think it would affect the right people in this manner. Yeah,
31:37
I think that if they put one of these in on the staples, you
31:41
would just end up finding out that your dish detergent is now fifteen dollars a
31:45
bottle to make up for those losses. Craig, do you support a price
31:48
cap on staples. I do not support a price cap. I just don't
31:51
think it'll work. And when it comes to regions that are selling commodities that
31:56
are priced from around the world, I don't see how that works. However,
31:57
what I do think the government keep doing is I do think that they
32:00
should keep pressing the grocery chains for a quote of conduct. And furthermore,
32:08
I think they should make it a higher profile that they're pushed for that,
32:12
so that it's in the public eye more and so that it therefore carries a
32:15
bit more weight. Thank you for that, Craig. Time for us to
32:17
move into our last segment here on the roundtable plugged in, where we give
32:21
all of our guests an opportunity to shout out something that they think needs attention
32:24
or shamelessly self promote themselves or something that they're doing. Kieran, are you
32:28
helping others or helping yourself. Right now, I am going being a shout
32:31
out to the Windsor District Labor Council. They just announced, I think yesterday,
32:36
they have an annual event in honor of the late great Gary Parent.
32:42
It's the Gary Parent Labor Activists Awards. They just announced the winners. I'll
32:45
just quickly go through over. There's a several different categories, the Community Partner,
32:50
the winners, the Windsor Piece Coalition for on the environment. You have
32:53
Alison because pause a Lanka excuse me from un four four four four. The
32:59
Health and Safety Activist Award winners Ian Nash from QP two nine seven four,
33:04
Human Rights, Megan Simon OSSTF District nine, Political Actions Sister Patrick Merchants and
33:10
Murchison recently elected new president of QP five four three. Public Education, Enzio
33:16
Colchia AUECTA, Public Services, Jennifer van Zettin from OPSU one sixty two,
33:22
Social Justice Madison Laviser Unifour two four zero and Women Pam Strong, Unifour two
33:29
hundred. Congratulations to all of the winner all of the winners, and just
33:31
talking about Gary Parent already missed him dearly, absolutely well. Thank you for
33:37
that, Kieran Mollie, how about yourself, Well, thanks for shouting up
33:39
my sister. That's so sweet of you. She works so hard for that.
33:44
I'm going to be a little selfish but also helping so me and my
33:47
husband Dan. He didn't get a name last time, so I have to
33:51
show that to him. We organized the Amisburg Canada Day five kilometer run,
33:54
walk and wheel and kids Dash, so it's help that it helps the Ryerswood
34:00
Youth Optimist Camp, the Amaspiric Food and Fellowship Mission and Amaspect Community Services.
34:05
All our proceeds go to that. We're organizing the run, So if you
34:08
can go on race dot org and it's wr ace dot org and sign up
34:15
for the event, it's going to be a huge fun time. And yeah,
34:20
all the proceeds go to charity. But also I'm just doing a shout
34:22
out. Hi, Mom, thank you so much for watching my kids so
34:24
I could be on the show. Oh so thank Mom's listening of course,
34:29
right, yes, Coury Craig, How about yourself? What needs to be
34:31
plugged in? Wow? I did not prepare a list like the two keeners
34:36
before me, so unfortunately I don't have any long list of things to promote,
34:40
so I shall just promote the Windsor Star. I think we're still doing
34:45
some great journalism despite the challenging times, and you can check it out in
34:49
the paper or at Windsorstar dot com. We just did Roast City Politics last
34:53
night, and I'm pretty sure it was three for three Windsorstar stories that were
34:58
all the topics. So yeah, well, thank you for much. Shout
35:00
out to the Star. Thank you so much for joining us here. I
35:05
love the roundtable. You get different perspectives on things, and sometimes when we
35:09
go off air, we continue the conversation and go back and forth a little
35:13
bit harder than you here on air, but it's always enlightening. I always
35:16
get to learn a little bit more and I get to meet some new people
35:20
as well. Today, for example, Amasburg counselor Molly Alaire. Mollie,
35:23
great to meet you. Thanks for coming on to the show. Thanks for
35:25
having me. It was wonderful. Absolutely we'll have you back. Craig Pearson,
35:30
Windsor Stars Managing Editor, thank you so much, thanks for having me.
35:32
I got to run to my car now so I can get the ten
35:36
oh five discussion between Andrew Dowie and Kien mccains, we want to get out
35:39
real quick and of course Word nine counselor Kien McKenzie, You're not going anywhere,
35:44
but thank you so much for being with us here on the roundtable.
35:46
Thanks for having me. Cheers. John Lydkey here on AM eight hundred CKLW.
35:50
You got to take a quick break right now,