Conversations That Matter

ICBC's Mark Milner Smart Phone - Dumb Driver

This week Conversations That Matter features Mark Milner of ICBC’s Road Safety Program, a program that is devoting more and more resources to discouraging distracted driving. It’s a fight Milner admits is challenging because “apps are designed to get your attention”. Unfortunately, the apps are playing a significant role in driving up accident rates. Milner says, “the average person touches their phone up to 2,000 times a day and the addicted user up to 5,000. This is a contributing factor to the number of fatal accidents associated with distracted driving. The numbers of fatalities exceed those associated with impaired driving and they’re close to speed-related deaths rates.”

ICBC says over the past five years close to 400 people have lost their lives due to distracted driving. The insurance company along with Police Forces throughout the province are clamping down with an increasing number of counter-attack programs. Unlike drinking driving roadblocks the police simply walk or cycle through a row of cars stopped at a red light. Much to their chagrin, they do not have to conceal who they are, drivers focused on their phones don’t see them coming. Fines for use of your phone when driving are $543 on the first infraction, another $368 if you get nabbed a second time and $3,000 if you get caught again within 12 months. After a second ticket, ICBC is going to review your driving record and could remove your driver’s license.

Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue presents Conversations That Matter. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for an important and engaging Conversation about the issues shaping our future.

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Small Business - The Backbone of the Canadian Economy: Laura Jones

This week Conversations That Matter features Laura Jones of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business who talks about the value small business contributes to the economy.  Jones points out, “Over half the private sector jobs are in small business. So small businesses create jobs. But they do way more than just creating jobs. You know in an economic downturn, big businesses are really quick to shed jobs. Small businesses are not. They try and keep their employees. And what that does, is it creates a lot of economic stability.”

 

Jones goes on to address the proposed tax changes that will have a significant impact on small business. According to Jones, “small businesses are insulted by the tone that the Government is taking around these consultations. A tone that suggests small business people are trying to cheat on taxes.”

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

How to plan, build, operate and finance Transportation Infrastructure

This week Conversations That Matter features Jane Bird who as CEO of the Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc, the company that planned, built and figured out how to pay for the public transit line to Richmond and the airport. How did she do it? What can we learn from her experience as we tackle transportation infrastructure planning in the GVRD?

 

Rule number one according to Bird is, “people need to feel like it's fair. They need to feel like it's reasonable for me to have to pay this. It’s not fair if one person pays to drive to on the road work and another drives in for free.” She goes on to say, “if users are paying for something they want to know it is an investment in better service, people need to feel that, bottom line, they need to understand why. If we can demonstrate that, then we have a shot at social license.”

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Is Canada Ready for Legal Pot?

Ep 154 - Barinder Rasode

Is Canada ready for legal pot?

This week Conversations That Matter features Barinder Rasode of NICHE an organization that is playing a role in helping producers, regulators, police and provincial governments get ready for the biggest social change since the abolition of prohibition.  Rasode says, “there is a need for greater collaboration between governments, industry and the public.”

With less than 11 months before pot become legal is Canada ready? The answer is, probably not and there will be mistakes. Provincial Governments across the country are already telling Ottawa it is moving too fast. Radose acknowledges there is push back from the provinces but says, “It will take time for all of the pre-prohibition market to move into the post-prohibition market and to be properly regulated, checked by health authorities and municipal licensing bylaw officers but it is possible. The important thing is this was the right time for use to move forward with legalizing cannabis.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Is Omar Khadr a victim or a terrorist?

Ep 153

Is Omar Khadr a victim or a terrorist?

 

This week Conversations That Matter features Scott Taylor, a former Canadian Armed Forces Commando, former Ansar-al-Islam hostage and the founder of Esprit de Corps Magazine on  Omar Khadr. Is Mr. Khadr a terrorist or a victim? In a recent Blog, Scott Taylor says he is a victim.

 

The details of Mr. Khadr’s life, his battlefield engagement, the extraordinary efforts that saved his life only to ensure he was taken to Bagram Air Force Base and to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. A facility Amnesty International says operates without regard for human rights, a facility that employed an interrogation technique commonly referred to as, “the frequent flyer program”. The evidence of torture and a disregard for human rights did not sway successive Prime Ministers to ask for Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada. Scott Taylor says, “This is where the Canadian government failed.”

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Is Site C the right energy project for BC?

Is Site C the right energy project for BC?

 

This week Conversations That Matter features past BC Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald in a Conversation that was recorded at Site C in April of 2017. Ms. McDonald insisted the Conversation be embargoed until after the final results of the provincial election were known.

 

We sat down with her to hear from her why she believed that Site C was the right project. The Conversation covers a wide range of topics including projected energy demand, sources of clean reliable energy, the expropriation of the Boon family farm, the loss of arable land, erosion of the banks of the Peace River, the claims of Treaty Rights infringement by the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations and more.

 

Ms. McDonald was dismissed as CEO within days of the swearing in of John Horgan as Premier. While Ms. McDonald is identified in the video as the CEO of BC Hydro, which was true at the time, she no longer speaks for the company.

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Is Site C the wrong energy project for BC?

Is Site C the wrong energy project for BC?

 

This week Conversations That Matter looks at Site C from the legal perspective of two Treaty 8 First Nations, the West Moberly and Prophet River, who say their rights are being infringed upon and we also have a conversation about BC Hydro’s numbers. Do they add up?

Both Indigenous legal rights lawyer Gordon Christie and Eoin Finn of the NGO, the Pacific Electricity Ratepayers Association, while approaching the topic of Site C from different perspectives, argue that Site C is the wrong project.

 

Mr. Christie points out that since the Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot’in Land Claims decisions in the Supreme Court of Canada, treaty rights issues have been pushed into the consultation arena that is at the core of the land claims rulings. Mr. Christie says this is wrong, he says, treaty rights are not negotiable, they are entrenched and he contends those rights are being abused.

 

Mr. Finn goes into great detail about the numbers and he says,  “our Columbia River Treaty, agreement is 80% plus of the size of the proposed power from Site C.”  He adds in technological innovation that has seen a per person usage drop and he challenges Hydro’s population increase numbers. Add in an expansion of renewable energy sources and Mr. Finn says we don’t need Site C.

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

The Energy Transition is Already Underway

Markham Hislop

The Energy Transition is Already Underway

 

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Markham Hislop, who has turned his full attention to the energy transition under way in Western Canada and globally.

 

He considers being called "the man in the middle of the road" a compliment. He believes the climate debate is settled, that the energy transition started 10-15 years ago, and the global economy is slowly adopting the clean energy tech needed to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, he contends it will take the rest of the century to do it.

 

But Mr. Hislop worries that clean energy boosters are getting too far ahead of the technology. He expects oil and gas will compete with renewables for many decades before finally losing the battle for marketshare.

 

Interestingly - he says BC is moving too fast and Alberta is moving too slow. He says both provinces need to align their objectives and stop going head to head. To talk about the largest energy revolution since the introduction of electricity, we sat down with Markham Hislop, for a Conversation That Matters.

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Just the Facts with Blair King

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Blair King an earth scientist who specializes in environmental remediation and speaks out on a range of resource based issues. He appreciates emotional appeals are extremely compelling and he understands why we all want to rally around a good story.

King, however, worries we’re making complicated policy and land use decisions based on emotion and sidelining the facts. That’s why he decided to speak up. Look for him on any social media platform where he freely shares his insights into a variety of issues that include energy transition, Kinder Morgan and Site C.  He has his fans and detractors.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Transgender with Lisa Salazar

 

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Lisa Salazar a woman who helps us to understand the transgender spectrum.  What does it mean to be Transgender? The term is relatively new. It is widely misunderstood. Many people believe trans or transgender is about sexual orientation rather than gender identity.

After decades of fighting the voices in her head Lisa took on the long and challenging transition from her life as a man to the one she knew was her true self.  Lisa takes us on her journey and at the same time provides insight into the lives of transgender people.

Her life story coupled with the recent enactment of Bill C-16 which ensures that transgender people are guaranteed the same human rights as those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth lead to this week’s conversation.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv