Full show: How would a BC Conservative Premier tackle our province's debt?

0:00Fox News is now streaming live on Fox 1. When it matters most, turn to the voices you trust. We go beyond the headlines, bringing you the stories you won't hear anywhere else. Live coverage, sharp analysis, real perspective. At home or on the go, stay connected when it counts. Stream Fox News on Fox 1. Download today. If someone posts an intimate image of you without your consent, while BC has some pretty stringent rules in place about how to get that taken down, they're wrapping up the fines that go along with this. So what kind of an impact is that having? And how often are these fines even able to be collected? We're going to find out. And the BC conservative leadership race is heating up more people, signing up to vote, more endorsements coming.

1:00So how are the candidates responding to this? And what is the plan for dealing with our provincial fiscal situation? Also some good news for Vancouver International Airport. It has been named the best airport in North America and the 10th best in the world. So what are they doing that is so different from all these other airports? It's all coming up on the morning from Sydney Podcast. Let's get started. Well, let's talk about one of the stories you've been hearing about in the news this week. And it has to do with social media. Spend any amount of time on social media these days. You'll come across something that has been generated by AI. Either an image or a video. I mean, it's all over the place, right? But it's not all benign either. It's not just fake recipes or crazy weather videos. There are people using it to create deep fakes and realistic pictures, causing online harm to people with intimate images real or not. Now, in general, governments everywhere have been kind of slow to act on the overall issue of going after people

2:02who publish this stuff online. But here in BC, there are some protections like the Intimate Images Protection Act, which is now being beefed up, actually. So let's find out how Nikki Sharma is the Attorney General of BC and joins us now. Thank you so much for being here. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So what is changing? What's going on? Well, yeah, the Intimate Images Protection Act has been operating for a couple of years now. And at earlier on up until yesterday, you could get up to $5,000 of damages if you were a victim of somebody disturbing an Intimate Image of yourself without consent. But we're upping that limit to 75,000. I think what we realized was that they can have such devastating impacts on the victims. And there needs to be a real deterrent to let people know and everybody listening that if you do this kind of thing, there are serious consequences. And we wanted to make the damage award higher to make sure that's clear. Okay, and so let's talk about enforcement here.

3:02How many times has this actually been levied and how hard is it to collect? Yeah, so the privacy protections for each claim make it so it's not public, but it has been there have been awards of damages through the CRT. And, you know, there are tools in our legal system and you were talking off the top about us, not all jurisdictions even to step up to make sure we've done that here. We have legal tools to enforce. If somebody's not paying, there's tons of ways to go after their assets. And so this is the legal tool to go after people for doing this kind of thing that doesn't exist in a lot of places. Right. Okay, so I understand that there's privacy issues, but can you tell us like, have these fines been levied in this province? Have has money actually been collected as a result? Yeah, there's been hundreds of result claims since the beginning of the CRT. And that means that victims that are coming forward are all getting the orders that they saw. So sometimes they're saying, look, I want that my image taken down.

4:04I want it, there's a stop order. So it's not distributed anywhere and the person who's doing it told that. And sometimes the CRT is able to get that order in the same day that the person asks for it. Sometimes people come forward and they say, I want my image taken down. And I want to go after damages for the person that's doing this to me because of what I've suffered. And in those claims, yeah, we used to be a $5,000 limit at the CRT. They could go to court if they wanted to pursue higher damages. But we're upping that to 75,000 at the CRT level. OK, and take a last time we talked to you about this. You were going after X because they were not cooperating. Has anything changed on that front? Yeah, we are, that's in the courts now. We filed our, our intervener status. We wanted to be part of that because we are there also to enforce our law and make sure that social media platforms across the world are sticking to the orders that the CRT gives. So most of the time it's been happening without issue.

5:06Like a lot of platforms just take the content down. They see an order from the CRT and they just take it down. So we did have an issue with X. But you know what, we're going after them in court. We feel like we need to stand strong on protecting British Columbia. And so that matters before the courts right now. OK, and one of the other questions, one of the things I want to talk about was the images that are generated by artificial intelligence, which are becoming super common these days. And I would imagine that some people who do this think, well, it's not real. Therefore, it's not covered. But what is, what is the situation with that? You know, those people that think that it's absolutely covered. If you have taken somebody's image and altered it, use their face or did something to alter it. And it's an intimate image. It is absolutely captured by this act. And you could be responsible for up to $75,000 worth of damages if you do that. And most people want their image taken down and it to stop. And they should know also that if there is an image, even if it's altered, even if somebody's using AI to take your body and use it in different ways, you can come forward.

6:14Important to know that we wanted to make it a very easy process. So you can make an application on your phone 24-7. And you know, if you make it to this ERT, you give them information about what the image is and where it is. And they can act quickly to help you. Do we need more education on this front? I noticed in the news there's been a couple of cases from back east recently of teenagers in high school doing this, creating those images and passing them around. Absolutely. It's so important that our school, we have a digital literacy program in schools in BC. But it's important that young people understand that there are consequences to doing this kind of thing. You know, I think you set off the top, I believe. We have to step up in many ways as governments to protect young people, to let them know what the lines are. And also adults. I think there are a lot of these platforms are essentially experimenting on children. And you know, we're working to also advocate. I'll be going to Ottawa next week to advocate for online harms and especially around AI.

7:21And make sure that the federal government plays a role in regulating in the interests of children. And I know that's something as well that you've been pushing hard. But what has that reception been like? What is going to happen with Ottawa? Yeah, you know, I hear they're interested in reinstating something that an online harms bill that didn't make it before, that they're going to be reinstating it. We want to push for certain specific things in there, especially in light of the tragedy in Tumblr Ridge. And I'll be up there next week. Happy to come on the show and see what reception I receive to talk about what we think needs to happen at the federal level to protect people. Yeah, I look forward to hearing about that. I thank you for your time on that. No problem. America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first, nearly three years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home.

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9:22We have been talking a lot about this with vom Palmer this week. But one thing is for sure that all of the remaining candidates do have a lot of material to work with. Given the recent very unpopular provincial budget and the polls that have been coming out recently telling us that Premier David Eby's popularity is definitely kind of on a downhill slide. So what would these candidates do differently? Let's hear from one of them. Ian Black is a former cabinet minister. Current candidate for leadership of the BC conservative party and joins us now. Thank you so much for being here. Good morning to you and to your listeners. Thanks for having me here. How is the race looking these days? How would you describe it? We're all running hard. It's a lot of fun. The energy is high. I've been traveling all over the province talking about what we do to get British Columbia back on track. And the response has been terrific. The membership is growing. And people are actually dialed in to the notion that change is required. And people with my kind of experience and background are serious contenders to take over the party and go to the people to get the trust to form government.

10:27It's okay. On that front, then, we have been talking this week about a lot of the endorsements that are happening. Are any people, are you talking to any prominent BC conservatives about that? Because they do seem to be lining up though, but behind other candidates. Well, I was so so honored when we launched our campaign. We started that whole thing. I was very honored that. And fast 20 year cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, our former minister of international trade, one of most respected voices in conservative politics in Canada. He's co-chairing my campaign. He's actually the one who approached me to consider running for this position. I also have a co-chair in Diane Watts, you know, a titan of politics in this province. Also, obviously in the south of the Fraser, but province wide and Canada wide and a former conservative member parliament. And also my third co-chair is Teresa Watts, one of the members of our caucus in Victoria at the moment, our former international trade minister. And that was where I started. The ground is now starting to shift as it always does in these competitions.

11:28And you'll be hearing more in the coming weeks. And it's kind of exciting. I mean, at the end of the day, it's about memberships. But when you get some experienced people like I got coming forward and say, yes, he is the guy. He's got the right background in terms of having led something because most of the candidates have not. She's got a solid base of economic policy and he said at that counter table, so he can hit the ground running as the premium day one. Once the people show the NDP the door and open the door to the return of prosperity to this very province. Can you make an interesting point though? You're saying, listen, you had these endorsements. They were just early on. It just feels like there's more happening right now. More to come. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I think the ground is continuing to shift and it'll be more to come. Okay, but let's talk about then the material that you have to work with in terms of what are people telling you, their impressions of the NDP government and the recent budget? Well, sadly, it's an abundance of riches when it comes to criticizing the NDP. I mean, the province is in a disastrous spot.

12:28You know, you just look at the finances and you've got a negative $13 billion deficit after having a $5 billion surplus. A number of years ago, I mean, that's what that's six St. Paul's hospitals. You know, that's like eight or nine mass eternal bridges replacement projects. I mean, the scale of this is unprecedented. And it's not just the swing from plus five to negative 13. It's the tripling of the debt itself. I mean, it took 160 years to accumulate a debt of $66 billion in this province, which is what the NDP inherited by their own math. It's going to hit 190 billion by the end of next year. And that matters to your listeners because all of their tax dollars are being choked off, being spent on just paying the interest on that debt. And it's not available for our vulnerable seniors for children and for infrastructure and for policing and our judiciary. It's a pretty big deal in it. It's the rubber sitting in the road right now and British Columbia are feeling it. Okay, but are you concerned about bridging the coalition as well?

13:29You talked about supports from the Stephen Harper side of things. But what about that free enterprise coalition? How do you bridge that? Well, I'd buy you with the you stay true to conservative values. I mean, what do we believe in? We believe in a small government that is still taking care of the sacrosanct things like healthcare and education, taking care of the most vulnerable. And that government should get out of the way, get rid of the red tape. I mean, we're paying the way and get out of the way mentality. We're a government that believes that low taxes are the way to go because you make better choices with your money than government. If you stick to those basic principles, and there's like four or five more, if you stick to those basic principles and you you wrap a story around that. That is optimistic. It shows hope for the future. It shows how we're going to get out of the disastrous job loss situation that we're in. It shows that we'll repeal things like dripper, which is causing all the uncertainty in the marketplace right now. And causing investment to flee this province. If you pay to picture like that that is optimistic for the young families who are leading this province at the moment,

14:29that they're going to stay. They're going to focus in on an alternative to the NDP that makes sense. And the DC conservatives will be that alternatives. Okay, since you brought that up, then about drippa repeal it, you said repeal it and do what? Oh, that is such an important question. Everyone in the candidates in this race is talking about repealing drippa and no gold star should be given up to do that. Because it is now such a practical thing that it has to go. Likewise, section eight point one of the interpretations act. It was province that binds drippa across all the rest of the machinery of government. And there has to be an effort to get the premier's on board in this province, which I will do to look at changing section 35 of our constitution to enshrine private property rights to really make this issue go away once and for all. Because what's happened, of course, is that the investment dollars are fleeing the province. We're seeing projects getting stalled right left and center across the province. And the piece of however, have to be put back together when drippa gets repeal and it must be.

15:30You're going to see an enormous reaction from our first nation's community. You're going to see the stakeholders in the forestry sector, the mining sector, the oil and gas sector having to deal with that. You're going to have the the bureaucracy having to deal with that. You're going to be the companies themselves who are might be dealing with protests in the woods, which we haven't had for years. That is the disaster situation that the NDP has set up. And we must have a leader of the BC conservative party who has the experience at the cabinet table, who has made these types of big decisions, who has run organizations before to try to navigate that chess board. Because this is not a time for rookies. It's not a time to be training a new perimeter of the province to tackle that inevitable situation. We have to get it right. And it starts with picking the right leader of the BC conservative party. Right. That's what I was curious about too, because we hear from a lot of the candidates saying repeal repeal. But that to me seems like one very small part of this equation. What about your relationship with Indigenous Aboriginal groups around the province?

16:31No, you're serious. Again, that is exactly the right point. Repealing drippa is not the end. It is the beginning of the challenge. And if you're going to, you're quite literally going to have to deal with multi-generation forestry companies, many of whom I have spoken to, who are in a heck of a situation thanks to the NDP, who are going, we've got great relationships with our first nations. First nations want the same thing for their families as the rest of us want. And in my view, the first nations should be the most angry at the NDP, because this meddling of the government in chasing this very, I mean, it's kind of like a land back philosophy they seem to be chasing, has done more damage to Indigenous relationships and will do more damage to legitimate reconciliation, economic reconciliation than any government has done in history. Okay. So we've got what? Another two months to go here on this race, like what is your pitch to people? Well, we've got four weeks to go in terms of selling of memberships.

17:31And then we shift into a phase, about a six week phase, where we're trying to convince those who are now members that, you know, that Ian Black is the right choice to leave this party and become an exprime of British Columbia. So the main pitch that I'm giving is around that notion of the criteria of the leader. In my view, the next leader of this party and the next premier of this province must have three things and that our membership should not compromise. Number one, evidence that they've led something. I've been president and CEO of six or seven different companies. I know what it's like to get a group of people focused on the same page, agreeing in some values, set expectations for each other, and then measure that progress, hold each other accountable, and together achieve something magic, something far greater than we ever could have on our own. Secondly, a leader who understands economic policy, because if we don't get this province sorted out in all of its books, the rest of it just doesn't matter. We have an uninvestable province that's basically bankrupt, and we have to do something about it and only somebody with that kind of background,

18:34which I have can solve that problem. And third, we have to have somebody with experience at the cabinet table who's sat on Treasury Board, who is built with us now a $90 billion dollar of your budget and understands the very large and complex decisions that need to be made so we can hit the ground running day one. We don't have time to train a printer. It takes two years to learn how to be an NLA, and at this point in the game, much is it's important to have great people coming forward to contribute to the province and to politics in general. We just shouldn't let their first job be premier of British Columbia. Spring is here, and the shopping list is long. Time to make a lows run. Buy three bags, get three free. Stay green, one cubic foot garden soil. Plus, right now, members can earn four times the points on an eligible purchase. Start spring off strong with these deals and more. Our best lineup is here at Loads. Balance the $3.25, while supplies last.

19:35Soil offer excludes a last-gen Hawaii. Lowellty program subject to terms and conditions. Sealows.com slash terms for details. Subject to change. Point booster subject to exclusions and more terms apply. One time only offer. New travel and you're flying to a new city. Your first impression is right there when you land. Right? It's at the airport. Now, I am immediately judge a city by its airport. And it can be so hit and miss. New York. Great city. Terrible airports. Honolulu. Great on both counts. I remember going to Boston and finding the city delightful. The airport. Not so much, but that might have just been because they lean heavily onto the Boston Bruins at the airport. There's a lot of Boston Bruins decor there. That might have just turned me off. Could have been just me. Now, YVR. Great airport. Once again, it is being internationally recognized as the 10th best airport in the world. And not only that, the best airport in North America.

20:37So what is the secret there? What are they doing that other airports are not? Tamara Ruman is with us now, president and CEO of YVR. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, good morning to me. So what is the secret, Tamara? What is YVR doing that everyone else is not? Well, it's really no secret. We take great pride in representing the best of our city and our province through our art, through our welcoming hospitality, through the restaurants and the food and beverage, and the way that we feature the best of Vancouver and British Columbia. And then we pay attention to the little things that help people get on their way and you put those two things together and you have the best airport in North America. And I do notice that you're kind of climbing back up in the global rankings, right? You were 13th last year, now you're 10th. What do you think is making the difference in that regard? We are focusing on really serving all passengers, whether they're elderly, whether they're a family with, pardon me, kids, or whether they're taking their first trip for a new business arrangement.

21:37We make sure that we've got all of the services on offer to make sure that they get on their way. And so we're hearing from passengers that that makes a big difference to them. And they really appreciate us working efficiently, safely, and in their interest to help them get to where they need to go. How do you keep track of that? Are you constantly asking passengers what they want to see? This Skytrack Award is actually one of the biggest consumer surveys in any industry in the world. So over 13 million people are surveyed worldwide for their impressions and attitudes around airports. So we take a lot of time to listen to passengers, to listen to people traveling with passengers, and making sure that we've got the services that they need. We also talk a lot, of course, to our airlines and those that serve them to make sure that they're able to operate efficiently as well and the whole package comes together, and you get a great airport. Yeah, what is the new thing then? So what is going to be the thing that you think in the next year or two people are asking for that we might see at the airport?

22:38What we're experimenting with now, which you see in a lot of those airports that tops the world's rankings for the best airports in the world, like Singapore, is using more technology and facial recognition. So if you go through some of those airports, you'll know that you're able to use your face. You don't even have to get your phone out, and you can walk seamlessly and securely through the airport and get on your way. We're experimenting with that first airport in Canada to do that in partnership with their Canada and with our U.S. Departures. And we're finding passengers really like it. Nothing's better than the smile that we see on their face when the gate opens and they go through. And they don't have to do anything. That's the best part. They don't have to pull in through their phone. Wow, okay, so can you see that expanding? Then are other airlines interested in this? They are. They're really watching closely because, of course, they use it at other airports in other parts of the world. And it works really well for passengers. I mean, think about it. You're traveling with kids and bags. You don't have a lot of hands free to get out the paperwork that we're all struggling with as we make our way through the airport.

23:42So just being able to stand there, smile at the camera, have that light go green and the gates open is pretty sweet. Now, I would imagine that one of the other demands is people are constantly wanting more comfort, even while they're sitting and waiting to get on the plane, right? And so charging stations and all of that, how do you keep up with that? Well, we just make sure that whenever we're upgrading our seating that we put charging ports in for sure, that's part of what people are looking for. We also have done some major electrical work making sure that we've got the infrastructure and in partnership with BC Hydro so that we've got all of the electrical bells and whistles that make a modern airport work. And then we really, again, listen to what people need, where they need Wi-Fi, how we host Wi-Fi, how we make sure that they can find out which restaurants are going to be there and open that serve them. A lot more local restaurants, you'll see we have fantastic culinary scene in Vancouver, getting a lot more local offerings, leaves, donuts, pure bread, things that we take for granted here in Vancouver,

24:46but really, really resonate with people when they're traveling. Yeah, how do you decide that? How do you decide, look, what does that process like to figure out what's going to be available food-wise at the airport? We usually do requests for proposals, and we find that there's a lot of interest in people doing business at the airport. Sometimes a local restaurant will be a bit intimidated. I'm not sure I know how to work at an airport. It's different, of course, with security and logistics, then it is a street side, as we say, but we work very closely with them to make sure that we can support them, and they can do what they do best, which is serve people some fantastic food. Right, so what side would you say needs still need some work? I feel like, for a lot of years, the focus is on international travelers. What about the domestic side of things? Yeah, our domestic terminal is definitely our oldest terminal, and so you'll see still some of the old concrete structures that date back to the 50s and 60s when the airport was first being built.

25:46So our domestic terminal is definitely where we're focusing now. We have a new air kind of cafe open there, which is sort of a lighter lounge concept that's doing really well. We have an Asian themed, lucky lily restaurant opening there, which will be a great offering for domestic passengers. So you're right, the domestic terminal is definitely one that we're focusing on. Oh, you mentioned lounge, and I have to ask you about... I've been reading about this, about the constant competition at airports for opening more and more lounges. Has YVR been feeling that pressure? Certainly, since the pandemic, there's really been an uptick in demand for lounges, and airlines, frankly, have been opening up their lounge access in ways that they weren't previously. So they're selling lounge passes, if you want to think of it that way, to more and more passengers, making more and more passengers eligible. We are having to think about how we expand the space that we have, the footprint for lounges, to make way for that additional traffic, but also we're finding and hearing from passengers that they want different kinds of experience.

26:49So you'll see a lounge that's more suited for families, a lounge that's more suited for business travelers, a lounge that's more suited for luxury and premium passengers. Those kinds of concepts are coming to airports, for sure. That's a matter of when you travel. Do you scope out an airport? Like, do you, if you're coming and going from an airport, you think I'm going to wander around and take a good look here? Oh, absolutely, Sammy. If you travel with me, my friends and family all know that we're going to have to go early. We're going to have to look at the luggage rack. We're going to have to look at the lighting and the food and beverage. So I'm always looking for ideas. And also for things that we want to avoid doing every time I travel, there's lots to learn. Yeah, do you come back and tell your staff, hey, I saw this like at such and such airport, we have to do this. Absolutely. They get a full list of photos and ideas every time I come back. That is so funny. And that's why YVR does well. Tamara, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, thanks for your interest to me. That's the Mornings with Simmy Podcast.

27:49Thanks for listening. Don't forget to look for us on CuriousCast, Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you find your podcasts. New this with our own global. Have you ever told a lie? New serious. Wasn't lying part of the job description of CIA? An executive producer, Dick Wolf, and the team behind FBI. And your partner? He could be a little part of the book. Do you know what used to be a library? You really know used to be dead. I never knew you cared. Two perspectives. One mission. You guys work in the open. We work in the shadows. Starring Tom Ellis and Nick Gelfis. Nice work, partner. CIA. All new Mondays at 10 on Global and Stream on Stack TV.