Latest / VOCM On Demand / VOCM Morning Update August 17

Transcript

VOCM Morning Update August 17 · VOCM On Demand

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  Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Strickland. The Prime Minister, will join Premier Tony
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  Speaker 1: Wakem and Quebec Premier Christine for Schett as the details
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  Speaker 1: of a much anticipated new agreement on the Upper Churchill
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  Speaker 1: are announced in Saint John's this afternoon. VOCM News has
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  Speaker 1: learned that part of the announcement will include what's being
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  Speaker 1: called a fifteen percent Churchill River electricity rebate for consumers
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  Speaker 1: in Newfoundland and Labrador. What that will look like and
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  Speaker 1: how it is being achieved remains to be seen. It's
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  Speaker 1: also not clear whether the provincial government will take the
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  Speaker 1: new agreement to the public for a referendum. Meanwhile, when
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  Speaker 1: the new agreement is announced, it'll mark the latest chapter
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  Speaker 1: in the saga that has lasted decades. Vocm's Richard Duggan
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  Speaker 1: has more.
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  Speaker 2: The original deal was signed between this province and Quebec
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty nine, but over the years it became
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  Speaker 2: clear that the document was lopsided, with Quebec buying the
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  Speaker 2: power generated from Churchill Falls at dir cheap crisis. Despite
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  Speaker 2: many court challenges, the contract was seen as ironclass and
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  Speaker 2: this province was stuck. That was until December twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 2: when both Provinces announced that an MoU had been reached
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  Speaker 2: that would replace the nineteen sixty nine deal and allow
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  Speaker 2: for the development of several other projects, including Gull Island.
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  Speaker 2: Work to finalize those deals was halted last October when
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  Speaker 2: the PCs upset the Liberals in the provincial election, and
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  Speaker 2: the Tony wakem government ordered a review of the document.
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  Speaker 2: That report found that the MoU was not in the
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  Speaker 2: province's best interest, and thus both sides headed back to
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  Speaker 2: the table. Last week, Lapress reported that the agreement has
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  Speaker 2: been reached. They reported that while the bulk of the
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  Speaker 2: deal is unchanged, it does come with more energy for
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  Speaker 2: both provinces, and ODWA put financial incentives on the table
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  Speaker 2: for NL to get the deal done.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: The consequences of a devastating two vehicle collision on the
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  Speaker 1: Trans Canada near Southern Harbor Friday morning are being felt
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  Speaker 1: throughout the province. The crash forced the extended closure of
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  Speaker 1: the tcch RCMP have yet to confirm whether there were
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  Speaker 1: any casualties, but New Evolution Wrestling confirms that two of
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  Speaker 1: its members were among those injured. In a post to Facebook,
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  Speaker 1: New Evolution Wrestling says the accident had an enormous impact
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  Speaker 1: on everyone within the organization. Two members are currently recovering
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  Speaker 1: from serious injuries, and New extends its condolences to the
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  Speaker 1: family of a brother and sister who lost their lives
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  Speaker 1: in the crash. The organization says it is hoping with
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  Speaker 1: the permission and involvement of the families involved, to put
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  Speaker 1: together a fundraiser for the victims. The Health Minister says
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  Speaker 1: she is committed to finding a path forward to open
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  Speaker 1: an IVF clinic in the province. Newfoundland and Labrador does
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  Speaker 1: not have such a facility, meaning patients have to travel
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  Speaker 1: out of province at substantial costs to receive treatment. Government
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  Speaker 1: recently increased the one time subsidy for those seeking fertility
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  Speaker 1: treatments from twenty thousand to twenty nine thousands. Leela Evans
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  Speaker 1: says there are doctors who are very interested in stepping
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  Speaker 1: up and government is working with nl Health Services on
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  Speaker 1: the steps needed to support having IVF locally. Jennifer Tipple,
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  Speaker 1: an advocate and former patient of Fertility Services, spent between
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  Speaker 1: fifty and sixty thousand dollars on IVF over the course
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  Speaker 1: of three years before she became pregnant. She describes the
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  Speaker 1: process especially if multiple treatment cycles are involved as an
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  Speaker 1: emotional roller coaster, and says she is heartened by evans
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  Speaker 1: commitment to bring IVF to the province.
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  Speaker 3: Because that will remove even more of those financial and
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  Speaker 3: non financial barriers for folks. I think what people really
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  Speaker 3: want in this province patients of fertility services is to
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  Speaker 3: be able to access the services right here at home
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  Speaker 3: and have the comforts of home and their support network
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  Speaker 3: around them.
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  Speaker 1: The calls for the federal government to extend its temporary
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  Speaker 1: suspension of the fuel excise tax beyond the upcoming long
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  Speaker 1: holiday weekend just keep on coming. Prime Minister Mark Kearney
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  Speaker 1: announced the affordability measure back in April, resulting in a
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  Speaker 1: ten cent of leader savings on gas. It's scheduled to
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  Speaker 1: come to an end on Labor Day. The opposition Conservatives
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  Speaker 1: and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation are both calling on Ottawa
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  Speaker 1: to extend the savings beyond the holiday weekend. Federation spokesperson
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  Speaker 1: Franco Terrazanto says federal fuel tax relief makes life more
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  Speaker 1: affordable for all Canadians and goes beyond gas price savings
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  Speaker 1: by reducing operating costs for the food agriculture construction and
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  Speaker 1: delivery industries. Parks Canada says it's planting thousands of trees
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  Speaker 1: in western Newfoundland to help its force recover from a
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  Speaker 1: moose population that was once among the most abundant on Earth.
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  Speaker 1: Agency scientist Derek Whitaker says teams have planted about seven
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  Speaker 1: hundred thirty thousand trees in Grossmore National parks since twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. The trees are being planted and once forested
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  Speaker 1: areas that were chewed into grasslands by hungry hordes of moose.
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  Speaker 1: Whittaker says if they keep at it for another three years,
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  Speaker 1: they'll have planted more than a million trees. The park
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  Speaker 1: is the second largest National park in Atlantic County, DA.
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  Speaker 1: That's your news. I'm Sarah Strickland.