links in and helps them understand yeah um because those are the type of things that you might not mention to um a friend or a brother or sister or you know what i mean and when you read it then you can sort of make more sense with i think it's very worthwhile in that regard too Derek listen it's been lovely having you and unless there's anything you wish to add uh not just um the as you said the digital copy can be got from our website danigelyouthservice.ie look for the what we do publication resources and you can find that and other information there brilliant well done Derek thank you very much indeed that's Derek Callahan Youth Worker with the Lanagol Youth Service the nine till noon show with letterkenny credit union now offering mortgages from 40 000 to 600 000 euro with no hidden fees or transaction charges letterkenny credit union 9102127 you might think you know Ireland's ancient east but maybe it's time for a closer look uncover stories bold and brave where vibrant city 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products and services we'll contact you before your meter is installed find out more at esbnetworks.ie slash smart meter since she got her free hearing aids with her prsi at speck savers roshine is a changed one music has never sounded better and that makes her dance and dance and dance her singing though yeah well free hearing aids with prsi at speck savers music to your ears find out more online terms and conditions apply highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport this summer is going to be one of the busiest ever check out our summer flights to european cities such as barcelona cologne and the land with ryan air ireland west airport you're flying okay let's see what the weather has in store for us today it's not fantastic but should look at it's only the weather a dull and breezy day without breaks of rain and drizzle highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds okay we heard from minister charlie mcconnellogue he had his say pretty much uninterrupted as to how he believed last week's events unfolded as it relates to the t-shocks of us at the organization of a the organization of the the launch and the meetings and all that stuff anyway michael da hardy is pyro of the micro micro action group he joins us now michael i suppose look what we want to do don't we he's sort of clarify a few things and get this to bed and get on with the work of uh get on to work of getting people out of their mica infested homes and and into new homes with no expense to them as soon as is possible yeah i'm actually quite shocked at what what's been unfolding this morning i might work here i was actually got about 15 different must-called and messages telling me that uh we had minister mcconnellogue on again uh looking to defend what we still see as uh extremely poor planning uh we had a good weekend at the bottom line we had very engaging meetings with the t-shock um at the the home of clearenby date and at a business meeting then which we called for and insisted upon in the in the absence of it being called for by anybody else the homeowners again drove this as we've been driving everything through the entire campaign um we we made the meeting happen there's no doubt about that and it happened in the green and it was a very constructive meeting and as i said in the video i believe the the t-shirt went down the road an awful lot more informed what i will say is that what disappointed me immensely was at the start of that meeting and knowing that we had a very short window with the t-shirt and we had many many points and we spent an hour and a half the night before the meeting narrowing down through the fall of all the issues down to the key points because we knew we were so time constrained and yet uh minister mcconnellogue saw it spitting to pick up the first 20 minutes of the meeting ramped in as he seems to have done again this morning about how it wasn't his fault about how mic action group were thrown among the bus and about how there was always plans for a mic action group meeting but the reality is simply this break there was a meeting eventually uh after we put out the first video which was on the tuesday later on that evening there was um correspondence from minister mcconnellogue to him and jackson to say that yes there would be a meeting and they couldn't confirm all the details but it was looking like Friday between 11 o'clock sorry on saturday between 11 o'clock 12 o'clock colab were already in for that slot and colab were being dropped from that slot slot in order to accommodate mic action group that tells me we were never ever on the original itinerary and we probably wouldn't have had a voice at all with the t-shirt um only for the actions of the so i heard he's looking for an apology the only thing i was told apparently i was told my blog before now apparently he was told he was going to be getting an apology from you i well it was the only one part when i talked to you the first time around greg was that i'd said that there was no correspondence apparently in the 18th of march now the 18th of march i was flying out with liby we're on our 25th wedding anniversary we're heading to dubai and i was boarding the plane at six o'clock whenever charlie mcconnellogue responded to aamon jackson's request to say yes we'll see what we can do and we'll be in touch now he said on tuesday days ago yeah he said on okay go ahead go ahead yeah that's important greg so that was that was you know a couple of three hours after aamon jackson made the call to charlie mcconnellogue note again no word from charlie to us to say this is a massive opportunity the tisha's coming our way mike is the biggest issue in the county let's work together here and see how we maximize us well in fairness now that that's what should have happened and that's when i referenced the pr side of things you know it was a real actual opportunity to it didn't it didn't happen great but apparently what i would say is that a couple of 30 years after that charlie mcconnellogue come back to say yes we'll we'll basically we'll see what we can do and we'll be in touch it was never in touch 10 days later he still wasn't in touch and we were getting up to d-day when we were about we were at 11th hour almost of the t-shirt arriving into the county and no word of no kind we took the initiative as we've been doing all along and made this happen i'm firmly to the belief that we would not have had what we had if we hadn't enforced it all right forced it on two levels and he's talking about confusion about bunkranna and caron donna we wanted them to get to see deredra migoghan's houses it's probably the one of the worst in the county but they weren't prepared to come to caron donna we wanted a combo to happen a package to happen it had to see first of all what a homeowner is putting up with and they did and they then needed a business meeting they didn't want the business meeting the photo op was good enough but they didn't want the business meeting we were not prepared to give names and details for a house that was a photo op if they weren't prepared to talk about the hard graft and we got both and i think that's credit all right now he said that aamon jackson he's supposed to aamon jackson on tuesday and gave absolute concrete uh a commitment to a meeting uh and then you come on this program on wednesday and you said i'm paraphrasing here michael it's hard to keep track of the timelines i hope you understand you you effectively you know uh tour into him and says there's been no contact um and so on and so forth and then charlie tucked that up with aamon on the wednesday after your interview wasn't too happy about it choice language i think he said he used in relation to that and it was during that phone call that he was told that an apology to charlie mcconnell who would be forthcoming from you michael no the only part that i had wrong in the whole thing was that charlie mcconnell had come back two or three years after aamon jackson had messaged him to say we'll sort something out but the bottom line so that part is the only part that was wrong that part i missed because that was a message that was sent out and as i say i was bored in a plane for the back so i missed that part so hands up on that but that takes nothing away from the essence and the spirit and the lack of planning that was forthcoming from anybody else other than us the fact greg that they had to cancel somebody else's slot to get us in there they don't do that a teacher come into the county stops organize weeks in advance we were not on the radar quite simply that and we matured we found a place at the table and we did and a very good meeting i think what we're seeing is the acts of somebody in desperation that's what it is to me i honestly think he's out of his depth and you know it got to the point where he was prepared to eat up valuable crime that we had with t-shirt basically clearing his name and this is a real this is a real breaking down though of of the relationship between the microaction group and minister charlie mcconnell maybe at a time when we all as much as we can need to be pulling in the one direction michael yeah and i say that with absolute respect i think you know that i i i completely understand it and i think you if you look back over the years to make action group we have always been respectful to all of them and even to minister mcconnell or even though we would be entirely unsatisfied with his rate of support for our campaign and i've said that and you know and i haven't gone public with that but you know i i would say we have been not supported to the extent that we need to be and anybody that looks at social media will back that up if anybody out there thinks that the general public thinks that minister mcconnell has done a good job for us in the mickey campaign i don't know what they've been reading but it's certainly but we have not jumped on that or made a big point of it but when he comes on to attack as he has done today and takes away from what was a good news story at the weekend and this and this t-shirt and his boss has done a good job with the weekend to now change that again today to try to clear his name as purely the act of a man in desperation okay in the usual situation where you're praising the t-shirt and critical of the local minister but look it is unfortunately it is where we're at do you think uh was it a means to an end do you think organizing a pots and pans protest outside a hotel where you know we don't know who could have been staying there or what the client make up the client tell was and i know it was a means to an end and you know there's an awful lot of donagol families going through an absolute nightmare at the moment do you think that was the right call absolutely think it was the right call because i think what we have found and we're 10 years on the road here dreg is that nothing comes easy for us absolutely nothing comes easy for us and it's only whenever we hold their feet to the fire that we get the respect that we deserve and and Charlie Mcconnell sort of seemed to suggest that it was your group that was foot dragging in terms of organizing a family uh him him thinking it important that it be in a shown the late notice in making you know a property available for the visit um uh the delay in sort of organizing a hotel like the impression i got from from from the minister michael was that it was your group that was kind of foot dragging and and complicating the process now i'm just trying to give everyone an equal platform to to to have a say michael okay i'm not trying to stir or have a go or not at all but that that was what that's what the minister pretty much that's what i got from what he said yeah yeah the reality was this we didn't have a slot until we forced a slot then we were going to be given a slot at a homeowner uh venue only and we said we weren't prepared to do that because that would just allow them a nice simple photo up we wanted to talk about the business end of it about the fact that we had 650 applications 350 of them on hold because is 465 needed rest the other 300 are moving at snail's pace all because of bureaucracy introduced by the housing department that's what we wanted to talk about not a photo up on a cup of tea we were okay with a photo up on the cup of tea but only as a package they had to sit down and talk about the real issues with us don't they go county councils should have been doing this with the teams anyway it wasn't happening and we called that meeting and no one was making that happen and we were not prepared to concede and bend and just give the government what they wanted and turn the photo up without the business part of it some and that was why that was why we held out and said you're not getting the details of a homeowner until you until you can give us the issue early that the business end will also happen part of a larger process i get that i mean the impression i got to is this scheme stalled that's it is it is great and it's a lot of good work done but there are things that's stopping it from happening and moving forward and that's what we wanted to talk about and that's what we would have loved to have more time with the tea shop than what we had but unfortunately 20 minutes ago it was taken up to say like with mr mcconnellog explaining and trying to clear his name and in front of the tea shop and that just we you know at the end of the day we had a cut across and say listen we're not here to talk about poor charlie we're here to talk about the poor homeowners out there that need a voice we know the tea shop and this is what we want to spend our time in the meeting talking about right okay i think there's a bit of rehabilitation required between the likes yourself and minister charlie mcconnellog in terms of your relationship anyway well at the end of the day i'm out for the homeowners greg that's it i'm not out for charlie mcconnellog i'm not out for anybody i've nothing against him or for him he has to he has to man up at the end of the day he was born and reared three miles from my house as we would love to be seeing charlie mcconnellog with the best thing ever happened donnie gall he's in the epicenter of any show and he's in the epicenter of the mic process he's down there and he's fighting tooth and nail for us i have no evidence of that in any shape or form and today certainly doesn't help okay and all right listen powerful stuff thanks very much uh michael all right we're going to be speaking to the homeowner that did receive that visit after this quick break the nine till noon show with letter kenny credit union is your bank leaving town letter kenny credit union is now offering my cu current account and debit mastercard bringing full banking features with no appointment necessary to open your account let's call his name mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray linem and brendan shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray linem and brendan shine on saturday april 23rd million grand crew wine was 1499 now only 1199 and medium smarties kit cat and cadbury easter eggs three for only three euro little more for you enjoy alcohol responsibly are you passionate about customer service then concentrics wants to hear from you right now concentrics is recruiting work at home customer service advisors to join our growing global business in donegall if you're looking for an exciting opportunity where you can earn learn and grow apply today by searching donegall at jobs dot concentrics dot com flanigan's massive half price store clear out sale is now on in boncranagh 50 off irish made sofas tables beds ward rubs rugs and occasional furniture pay today and take it away furnish your home for half price don't miss out www.flanigans.io you'll find all the best toys at foie's ballad buffet discover great value on all the latest toys ride-ons bikes and bear go-karts with new deliveries arriving every week great offers on best-selling brands like lego fisher price and barbie with new deliveries every week you can get all the fun shipped to your door with free delivery on orders over 75 euro shop local and find everything you need at foie's ballad buffet or shop online at toys at foie's dot com all right you're very welcome back to the nine till noon show on to it we welcome the presenter of the dl debate island radios ga podcast that is brendan devaney how are you brendan what is the deal is it just to hurt yourself i'm not surprised to be honest it's fantastic so we're here doing the card over there huh maybe i think that might be uh someone close to you in your life it's just trying to make you feel better obviously so good uh can i what did you make of the sort of league uh the the the league games that we can't read much into them now i'm talking about the national football league games yeah what the the carry one of the carry like they won it in some the they won it in uh with some margin some room to spare it seems to me may own those big games they either won by a point it's a close game and they just about get across the line or they get hammered you know their dozens it seems to fall apart in between now that's it listen like nobody can handle carry this year when they were on it they really looked like they're building a bed of steam and they're already i think way ahead in terms of all ireland uh being favorites for all ireland so tough day it's psychologically people talk about the league that's a huge blow you know it's crow park it's a final again and when you're taken apart like that you know a lot of soul searching for for me ogan and the championship again and nothing really matters to them till it gets the final now listen they'll be fine psychologically all the way through if they do if they get the semi-final it'll be fine that final thing that is way and heavy on the yeah and it's not just the league final you know i mean at the end of the day it's a it's a significant competition and you get resoundly beaten that's you can't just ignore that and just say that's it's only a league final can you no you can't to say that that's another we scarred it they've opened up there great so yeah as much as we we keep saying right you might look at that now and think right now we're having a chance they could still be in a final but it's in that final that the problem is there's a dull headline croak pot yesterday the Galway-Ross-Common game a tighter affair 21 000 people turned out would you've expected a bigger crowd yeah i think i've seen some huge crowds here obviously since people haven't been at games in a long time i just think of the minute between travel and everything that's happening there's price of petrol and diesel i mean it is an actual factor i drove up and down from Dublin on saturday and i'll tell you that's it you know it's uh it would factor into it what's the situation of the dayland with the we talked about the the tussle after the armar donagol game some suspensions dvd donagol not appealing armar appealing what's going on there what's that about there was no they're supposed to be an appealing um from donagol not from armar right okay a caharokian from the davish news of course is on and i'm just gonna ask him he's been talking to various people in armar because what they were cited for was you know part of a malia or whatever been involved in a ruckus and how do you disprove that i mean if you're in there at all and even if you grab somebody's jersey then that's urinates so the problem is if you open that up to video evidence then the video evidence can be torn against you as well as in somebody could be seen doing something and that can be brought in there so i don't know then people were saying that armar put in this and they can withdraw it i think there was an opportunity to put it in and i can still sort of hold it there take more time to think we were going to do it right i don't know if we weren't there seems to be a bit of a lag going on uh great but i'd be surprised now if if they do go for it because it seems almost impossible to prove yeah it's defending defensible uh in terms of the video footage is there so caharokain is on with you to discuss that uh in in terms of uh local maybe the the senior stars of the future in action hurlers and footballers yeah yeah unfortunately paul burns hurlers come up short we have a few interviews and feedback from that game from uh kia mcnick this time come i caught up with under 20s captain kieran tobin they're great victor over our ma oishi mcconnell managed our ma we have some great underage talent coming through setting up a fascinating game against taroon own mulligan former stars in charge of them it's a Celtic park on friday evening so how are we in terms of because we kind of have this conversation almost every year but there's great talent there at the underage level and they're going to come through and it does happen are we getting it right in terms of transitioning these excellent young players into excellent senior players that's an idea for a show uh greg funnier was just thinking a few times about the amount of coaching and underage stuff that's going on we're not really aware of the whole system of it uh carol lacey of course one of our best players ever he's at the top of that in terms of uh he's organizing all our underage coaching from our teams up massive amount of work being done uh so i was looking to get him on now just to see how that's all happened but certainly they're don't go out competing every year competing competing competing and when i was just chatting to uh i met one of county board officials the last night we're talking about you know this week but we're around expense isn't that and just thinking about different teams coming he was saying they're senior team now a session you're looking about ten grand a session at cost to put that on so you're in the huge mulligan you think about underage and and all that that's pulling in sometimes i think like you look at that couple of million when you break down what a cost like in a normal year now taking the covid years aside i think in that one last year it was about two million they run all the dunnig all teams like breaking that down week by week that is some money that has to be huge amount of money huge amount and then when when it's so crucial you're going to have more well-off counties maybe having an advantage over less well-off so you're also going to actually be going through that uh whole uh expenses uh convo between the gpa and the gaa i think for those who've who've not really sat up and take note of that it'll be interesting too to get right across that that's all on highland radios number one show a deal debate you struggled to say that that's all right the words just wouldn't have come out of my mind it hurt me that's seven p.m just after seven p.m and seven p.m news this evening podcast also highlandradio.com brendan thank you great thanks all right back with more on the night on noon show after this second best show on the radio station after these the night till noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letterkennycu.ie or in office today it's not just a sewing machine for maya it's a chance to give her family a better life it's not just a way to make a living it's a chance to give her daughter an education like thousands of mothers maya lives in fear of what the future holds for her little girl and it's not just this lent your love can make all the difference visit trokrat.org or call 1800 408 408 trokrat until love conquers fear fancier chinese takeaway yeah in vijing could be get your ticket from highland radio at highlandradio.com and if that's not enough enter before friday the eighth of every boat to also be in with the chance to win one of our bonus cash prizes of 1000 euro to the betway handicapped hurdle they're under starters orders and they're off now the leader the on is the favorite gaelic runner who is unbeaten in her last three followed closely by the outsider oscars pal who's failed to play so far this year go on oscars pal so who are you backing underdog or favorite visit betway.com or download the app 18 plus t's and c's apply dunluy.net bet the responsible way are you passionate about customer service then concentrics wants to hear from you right now concentrics is recruiting work at home customer service advisors to join our growing global business in dunnegaul if you're looking for an exciting opportunity where you can earn learn and grow apply today by searching dunnegaul at jobs.concentrics.com if you're getting married the in-house design team at bizprint can get all your wedding stationery and signage customized to your requirements just visit weddinginvites.ie or call bizprint at port road editor kenny on 9117995. okay welcome back to the program right i wanted a little bit of separation i think between you know our conversation about the political to and fro wing of the t-shox visit at the weekend to speak into the person whose house they visited and that was claire mcdayd claire good morning to you hi good morning greg thanks for having me on the show uh what's a bit surreal experience wasn't it friday night uh you're sitting down for a cup of tea and then saturday you have the t-shox in what was it like as a as a homeowner as an experience um it was a strange sort of a thing i suppose and i had i had said from months and months and months and months ago when i first put that video out jeez i i'd love to have on t-shox here for a cup of tea you know i never actually thought it was gonna happen um i was glad that he came you know i suppose that obviously i was a bit nervous about it but i knew i had nothing to hide you know i was um it's just gonna tell the truth there was never gonna be any sort of agenda on my part um but the pressure is you know that you're you're if you're the one person that he's coming to see you're trying to be that voice for thousands of people who are hanging on every single word and who are in a terrible state of stress and anxiety and uncertainty and that's it claire represent people you know yeah and the great yeah great responsibility and you know we've seen a lot of the imagery and it's awful and it's shocking and the damp in the house and uh everything that goes along with your house being affected by mica but i think it's important that the politicians understand the emotional and physical impact this has on the people affected by this because obviously the problem is the houses are falling to bits the victims are you your family and all the thousands of others and the impact this has on you and your life and your health were you able to get that across to him yeah i think it was you know and that's really um what i wanted to do was just try and get that human story across and you know everybody's got their own other stuff going on things that are happening in their lives that are terrible and stressful and you know worrying and then we have this on top of it and and and it's very very very difficult and i think that you know i didn't hear minister mcconnell over there speaking but i did hear the other side of story there when i was on the line from michael but i think the homeowners happen to do too much work break you know and that's really the bottom line we are driving this we are pushing this we are begging if i thought that i could have gone down on my concrete on my hands and eat and beg him i would have if i thought it would have worked and i thought it would have helped people but we shouldn't be doing that we shouldn't be begging we shouldn't be having to find out what happens next and timber builds and having you know mag go into all these shows about new builds and what to do and trying to help people that should all be done for us we shouldn't be looking for somebody to come in and do the counseling and trying to get funding or trying to get a hub up and running it should they should be bending over backwards and groveling to us and trying to make it right but if the proper if the proper stuff is put in place everyone access is the same thing it only has to be done right initially it doesn't have to be done right for every individual house you set up the supports that are there and people access them and it shouldn't be complicated some people might say oh well claire should look it was just a photo op you just wanted to be seen having had him in your front room having fed him his tea and cake did you get a sense that there was real empathy there i have to say i was worried it was going to be just a full opportunity the press would come and he would just do his politician then then leave i didn't feel it was like that i have to be honest now i really didn't feel it was like that and he started off where we was standing outside and he was giving he was giving me the politician but you know politicians sort of talk at you they tell you what they want you to hear and they they just they don't listen and he started that you know oh we secure this money and we're doing this and blah blah blah and i kind of started in on him and just said you know i don't know what's going to happen here with my house i don't know what the future hold it's awful and he looked at me directly in the eyes and he said your house will be fixed and i said damn is it going to cost me 10 to thousands because you know i don't have that's all money and he said no and from then i felt that there was that human person kind of reset the tone did it for me anyway i don't know what other people around me are gonna you know thought about it but for me i stand in there next to him i felt he changed in that point and he came into the house he even looked different you know he had that kind of stern sort of face he even looked different i know what you're man about he went from sort of the head slightly tilted to one side nodding to more and more like a person who was just standing there going on calling you know this is awful and i want to do something and he asked me about why why was it taken so long so i tried to explain kind of you know what has happened with our with our case personally and he was he said i'm going to look into that myself and find out why is this taken so long and then when he did come in he said i'll come in for a cup of tea you know and at that point again he was very burst of all and he he was more relaxed and more like just a normal person and he came in this way down and he was saying you know we've only had like this five or whatever house is fixed we need to get 60 fixed a hundred six we need this process to happen quickly i want action i want this done so that people will see that it will happen and it is happening and that you know i suppose i suppose that that will take the stress away and i think that that will you know if they deliver then you know you know i'd be the first one to say i played charlie mccanlough hasn't he done a great job i think though you need to start yeah but you need sight of a finish line even if it even if it's 28 kilometers away you need to realize that you're on a path and you easy to cope and that's it action claire because i was going to say the words the sentiment the feeling that's all well and good and it's good to get it and it's positive but it is going to come down to action to people like yourself getting a new house your house falling around you you trusted you trusted the system and the system failed you it's about you without having to uh you know without having to dig deep into the money uh that you don't have you said yourself you wouldn't have tens of thousands i'm not saying that and that's that's when we will know whether this is is happening or not absolutely and i think you know we start seeing success stories of people who are in and happy and finally free of this awful weight on our shoulders the more that happens the more that people are saying well you know we might have to wait a while but it'll be done and it'll be okay and so we're not worrying about it anymore and that's what we need no words no talking no fake smiles on handshakes we just need action but i do think that there was positivity and i do feel more hopeful i'm you know greg i'm not singing and dancing and euphoric and thinking oh this was amazing open the champagne but i do feel that there's a light at the end of the tunnel okay and i hope and pray that that they deliver on what they said because i mean they have to they have to because otherwise you know no one's going to we don't trust them anyway they need to build course and claire this is why conversations like this are important because this is an archive too of you know the reaction to the meeting what was committed to and we can look back on this and and and see see if your your your you know your faith is not faith but your confidence or your improved confidence is justified or not and it's going to be in action claire listen thank you so much for sharing your experience and fair play to you for being the voice of a lot of people because it's not easy to invite people anyway yeah okay but you know what i mean you had a great responsibility because you've presumably and you kind of said this you had to feel that you had to do all the other victims of this scandal justice as well and by the sounds of it you did so claire thank you best wishes to you and the family thank you very much indeed the night until noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letter kenny cu.ie mike denvering concert with guests philomena begley ray lineman brandon shine at the millennium forum dairy on saturday april 23rd tickets at the theater box office that's mike denvering concert at the millennium forum with philomena begley ray lineman brandon shine on saturday april 23rd kelly's diner and letter kenny now has even longer opening hours try kelly's erdy bird breakfast one of their great lunch specials or a renowned jakes burger kelly's famous steak specials are available every saturday from three with an eight ounce succulent steak and all the trimmings for just 11 euro new extended opening hours now and kelly's award-winning diner at mountaintop letter kenny check out facebook for details are you ready yes crest question for one million pounds is what do crawford tiles do is it a tiles b wooden flooring c bathroom suites d five-day bathroom refits um all four you just want a million pounds well not really after taxes you lose a bunch of money but hey whatever crawford tiles castle fin<PHONE_NUMBER> check this join me this monday on the deal debate as we review all the weekends j action and championship are under 20 horrors play me home and the under 20 foot powers to go on our friends from our map with the feedback and analysis from both games and as our county leagues return we'll speak with new coloman shots of mckelvey also joining me irish news journalist cahill cain to discuss the ongoing standoff between the g a and the gpa and the current fallout of the suspensions after the dunnigall army game while listening more just after 7 p.m use and hide me and podcast and hide me the deal debate with sister sarah's letter kenny serving food you'll love till 9 p.m. daily in sarah's kitchen island radio wants to send you on the holiday of a lifetime plus five grand spending money get your ticket now at hide and radio dot com answer the question and start packing start drawing takes place April 14th on the night show start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio chartered physiotherapists have always had your back but did you know we restore confidence and repair strength our women's health physios offer support through all life stages from period pain pregnancy and birth to postpartum menopause and beyond treating bladder dysfunction prolapse and pelvic pain our physios will help you bring your body back to brilliant to find out more go to ask the physio dot i e highland radio weather updates with ireland west airport thinking of a sun holiday with the family you can now fly to barcelona three times weekly this summer with ryan air and enjoy some of europe's best family campsites ireland west airport you're flying okay dull and breezy day without breaks of rain and drizzle highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds you're very welcome back to the program right now um it's a big event in dairy every easter with singing dancing and musical theater trad music and irish language competitions it is the dairy fish 100 years it runs from the 19th to the 19th of april to the 22nd of april it's a celebration of singing dancing musical theater traditional music and irish language competitions right Ursula Clifford joins us first to talk about the history of this event and what a what a rich history Ursula hello Ursula can you hear me no okay is elizabeth elizabeth are you there hi elizabeth good to have you with us phone lines playing up on us a little bit right you you have your own history your family history irish dancing a huge part of your and your family's life yes my mother my mother was an irish dancer first of all and danced through the 40s and then i did it wasn't much of a dancer but we did a dinner before that and spent a lot of time with the face with the granny and did a bit of dancing said a few irish poles played the piano and then my own daughters also danced uh diverse speaking sang choirs orchestra all the rest so we've been we've been through it for a long time and my mother particularly has a very great affection for the phase so now i work as sort of to coordinate the dancing competition and help the committee in that way it must be great to be a part of it in terms of competition but also in the in organization to help and facilitate other people's experiences yes and it's our the dancing particular is very special at the very face because as you know there are different organizations loving dancing and we're i don't i'm not going to say we're unique i think it may happen a few other places but we do the two main organizations come together at dairy fish uh that's commission and then cogl most compete together at the fish and we have a jury care through both sides and why is it why is it unique why is this the only platform that both organizations come together it's quite interesting that well i'm not too sure but there was there were there's a long history anyway but uh there aren't and they run their own fishes but uh or fish anna but we the respect permissions made and great efforts made by bishops daily and the committee actually get too big with two sides together and uh so we do have them together and it's a very busy time for them because these of them have their word championships they would before so they then come back to dairy fish but that's um so we're glad to have them numbers are we would love love to have more numbers the numbers are a bit low at the moment but we hope we have more people and it's just the way things have been with covid and that people don't know how they know how it's going to go but we're hoping we're glad to be back after two years of absence and and the youth putting appeal out there for people to get involved this year is it too late Elizabeth well that would be nice and everybody well yes so you can still enter and also uh i would love to anybody would like to help by stage or whatever i would love i would love to people it's very hard the people are very busy and a lot of people are going away this year because they're getting the opportunity but i'd love to be able to see people maybe this is the year to just get it going and then really push on to the uh yeah listen as Elizabeth it's been lovely speaking to you thank you so very much indeed i'm going to try Ursula Clifford one more time Ursula are you there right no well you can put Ursula through online online too okay uh Aimen Sweeney's committee member of the Dairy Fesh it's a hundred years you haven't been that involved for that long Aimen i can be quite confident of that but it's a huge event for Dairy isn't it every single Easter and this one's going to be no different well it'll be different than the uh sense that it's the celebration of a hundred years of the the face itself obviously but no different uh in the sense that it's you know going to be the same sort of wonderful celebration of the talent of the northwest and it's Hunterlands and that has included the initial and Donegal area since the very start in 1922 yeah and of course there's been a gap it hasn't been held in is it three years i always find it confusing to time like this covid stuff it's three it's three years since those uh the last event isn't it three years this will be the well two if you include the the two covid years yeah um which were hard and everybody obviously but the the first one since 2019 that thankfully it includes the um centenary year and we're able to go ahead so from my audience perspective what could what can we see and enjoy um Aimen well you've outlined all the disciplines that are you know uh held every single year and have been since uh 100 years ago at the face that as Elizabeth says includes areas dancing that includes singing includes verse speaking includes uh rings of instrumental competitions it's the only platform that i know of anywhere in the world where you'll have you know a traditional fiddler playing a jig and then next door somebody um playing Beethoven on a piano um so it has a unique sort of style and sense and that respect um so we can expect all the disciplines to be well represented as usual you know from both Derry itself and surrounding Hunterlands as we said yeah and as i said to runs from Tuesday the 19th till Friday the 22nd so if i want to sort of plan out what i want to view uh where do i find out where things are happening what times they're happening and maybe plan uh you know a few hours or a day or successive days for that matter well the syllabus of the program on timetable for the entire week will be published very soon but better if you want the flavor of what is in store the type of competition you can plan to go and see the the venues and Derry which are the Millennium Forum and the Playhouse then you can go to www.derryface.com where the entire syllabus is there to be viewed online and downloaded so you can mark off exactly what you want to go and see yeah sounds sounds wonderful and then to finish things off there's a big event isn't there on Sunday April 24th uh starting at around three o'clock there's a Derry Face Gala Centenary Concert which is being held at the Millennium Forum as well so after the week's competition you have a chance to sit back and you know view artists who all came through the face such as you know Margaret Keyes, Gona Gallagher or Calahan one of your own broadcasters who is a country dancer but began his career at Derry Faces and Derry's dancer that would be David James will be performing and there will also be you know rings of sort of retrospective video content and that will also include tributes from past competitors such as Dana and Roma Downey we also have a special tribute from Johnny Logan whose father actually hailed from Derry his own name was Charlie Sherrod but he adopted the stage name Pato Hagan as many of your listeners will know so Johnny has given us an interview about how his father's connection not only with the city but the face in various in China across the northwest all right amen let us know when the let us know is that still is that ticketed if there's still spots available for that um the the Gala Concert well they're going fast as far as I know but if you go online or phone the box office at the Millennium Forum they'll be happy to help you out brilliant stuff amen well done and let us know when the the the actual list of events is organized and we can share that out as well when that's being announced I mentioned Ursula Clifford Ursula sorry some slight technical issues but it's good to have you on us and even just in passing there amen well it wasn't quite in passing uh was talking there to the to the history of this and its connections and it's a rich history over the course of the last hundred years isn't it which will be celebrated of course throughout the week yes the fact is that it was founded in 1922 to after a petition because there was a great danger that we were now part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and that we had to protect Irish culture and a node lady who was called Mrs Edward Henry O'Doherty quite famous in Derry and Fowler McGeaghan decided to set up the fish so that we would perpetrate all the Irish culture that came from Derry Donegal mostly the Hunterlands and far away too as well as it always had this sort of level of importance interest or was there a period over that 100 years Ursula that it was at its biggest if that makes sense well they would say up until the up until the Guildtolls had bombed and then we had to sort of move up to smaller halls in the Cregan and uh for the couple of years the Guildtoll came back the Guildtoll was the home of the fish and St Carlem's Hall unfortunately we had to change all that now because the Guildtoll has only one main hall within it they changed the minor hall until council chambers so we need two halls at night at least and during the day we use about seven venues between the playhouse and the Millennium Forum then St Carlem's Hall has not been in use for quite some time either and that's not suitable at the minute to use so we're using the Millennium Forum and we have two three places working in there and then up in the playhouse with three places working so during the day it's very very busy but at night we keep it that we only use two halls within the Millennium Forum so that that more people can come to the evening and sort of get themselves a built-in concert because they can go into the big hall and and see drama and singing and they can go into the smaller hall and see pianos and and violins and cellos and things like that and then on the Wednesday all day in the Wednesday is the traditional they take over the smaller hall on the Wednesday and they're there morning afternoon and night and uh then outside of that on Holy Week there are some school choirs that we hold them on on the Tuesday of Holy Week before the school breaks up unfortunately this year because of COVID like I would say the last phase we had there was about 12 primary school choirs and this year we have only three because they're not back practicing that's the problem well look at hopefully they'll make up for uh for for the rest that can't be there listen there's so much in it Ursula and it's going to be a fantastic week and we really appreciate your time this morning Ursula Clifford there okay uh and that's the dairy fish we're back tomorrow morning at nine have a great day the night on noon show with


Great. Thanks everybody for joining us here today on the traditional territory of the Lacongan speaking people, the Songheesnes, Guamalt First Nation. I want to lift my hands to Chief Russ Chipps from the Sianu Nation, who's also here today. Russ, you don't need to identify yourself, but he's right behind you. We also have some kids playing soccer, and that's because part of our announcement today is to talk about affordability. One of the initiatives that we've renewed is our investment in kids sport, to make sure that the province is providing resources so that kids from families of limited means will be able to participate in sport. For me, sport brings people together, common purpose, mutual objectives, working together, creating friendships and bonds in many cases over a lifetime. So we're very proud of the work we've done with kids sport, and I just wanted to raise that at the top. That's why I've got some youngsters playing soccer behind me. At the start, I want to say that we've been experiencing unprecedented inflation, not just here in British Columbia, but indeed internationally. Families are seeing it at the grocery store. We certainly see it at the pumps where we've seen a 35 cent drop in gas prices, and still they remain unacceptably high for most British Columbians. But despite that, we've tried to do our best to bring forward initiatives to assist families where we can to make sure that we're doing everything we can to reduce costs. Our government started on that footing by eliminating medical services premiums as one of our first acts as government, as well as freezing ferry fares for a time, addressing challenges at ICBC, removing tolls on bridges in the lower mainland, and the list goes on and on of initiatives that we've brought forward to try and reduce costs for British Columbians. But despite our best efforts and the pandemic coming upon us and Putin's invasion of Ukraine has put us all collectively in a difficult spot. So that's why last week we announced $60 million to go to the K-12 system directly to school boards so that they can determine what kids need the supports, whether it be for equipment, whether it be for school supplies, or making sure that meal programs can continue in districts across the province. And it's that type of targeted investment that Minister Robinson and I have been focused on with our government over the past number of months. By allowing the districts to make these choices, we're putting the money in the hands of those who can make the best decisions on our behalf. Today, we're going to be announcing two enhanced tax measures as well as relief for renters. The tax measures include a one-time enhancement of the Climate Action Tax Credit for low and moderate income families. That means that when the Climate Action Tax Credits come out in early October, they will be four times as large as they would have been were it not for this investment. $500 million going into the Climate Action Tax Credit to be distributed to families that need it the most. We're also taking the opportunity today to rename the Child Opportunity Benefit Fund. And the reason we're doing that is that when we brought it in in 2019 and then implemented it in 2020, people didn't know what it was. And I don't know what it was. When I heard Child Opportunity Benefit, what I heard was is that money for post-secondary education for training down the road. Instead, I looked back to my youth and when I was raising my kids, there was a family bonus, a baby bonus, there was a family allowance. So we've renamed the Child Opportunity Benefit to the BC Family Benefit. Something that people can understand that goes directly into the pockets of families. There was a program in place before 2017 for kids up to the age of six. The BC Family Benefit Program will cover kids up to the age of 18. And as any parent will tell you, children cost more over time, not less. We believe this is a measure that doesn't only help us during an inflationary period, but helps us in the long term. That enhancement will be $100 million starting in January for a total of $600 million in today's package added to the $400 million that came through the ICBC rebate program, making this a billion dollar program with $60 million directed specifically to kids in classrooms. These payments will begin in October and run for six months into the new year when the family benefit kicks in. For example, an average family of four will see $760 more next year than they would have this year. A single parent with one child will see up to $500 in their pocket that wouldn't have been there otherwise. I want to touch upon another program that we initiated that doesn't get a lot of attention and that was eliminating the fare for kids under 12. That has meant 3 million dedicated rides by children under 12. That's a significant saving for families, allowing people to get acclimatized and adjusted to using public transit early in life that will carry on into adulthood, protecting the environment and of course reducing costs to people. All of these initiatives will be significant for people. One probably the most important for 1.5 million renters in British Columbia is our announcement today that effective January, the maximum rent increase for landlords will be 2%. We changed the law that was in place under the former government of an instant and automatic 2% lift as well as inflation to only have the increase attached to inflation. Unfortunately, during this extraordinary time, an inflationary increase in rents will be debilitating for 1.5 million British Columbians. We're not prepared for that. We're going to continue to work with the landlords of BC to find other ways to engage with them, to assist them with costs. But this year's rent increase will be limited to 2%. That will also be added to a BC hydro benefit that will be coming later in the year. I'm sure there will be questions about why that's coming later in the year, so I'll leave it for that. But I want to thank you for being here to talk about a billion dollars of money back to British Columbians so they can address some of the challenges of the cost of living that we've seen over the past number of months. And I'll ask Minister Robinson to join you for more details. Thank you, Premier. You know, the Premier has made a significant announcement and these measures are really going to go a long way to help a lot of people. 85% of British Columbians, individuals and families, will benefit from the Climate Action Tax Credit increase next month. And 75% of families with children will receive more on their BC family benefit payments starting in January. As the Premier mentioned, this was launched in the fall of 2020. And we launched this program to help combat child poverty and to help lower income parents with the cost of raising a family with providing more opportunities for their children all the way up to the age of 18. As the Premier mentioned, it was only till the age of six, but 12 more years of support for families to raise these children is absolutely critical. The BC family benefit offers more money. It serves more parents. And more importantly, it serves more children. Normally, without the extra support that we are announcing today, a family with one child would receive about $1600 over the course of the year through the BC family benefit. For January through March, we are adding another $175 to payments for people with one child and extra $350 for family with two children. Many families, many young people and those on fixed incomes will also benefit from capping rent increases below inflation. And we're not alone in this. The province of Ontario has capped rent increases as has Nova Scotia. We are all dealing with this incredible inflationary period and taking measures to help people through it. And while these are new temporary measures, this is not a new commitment from our government. We've been reducing costs for people since 2017. We've significantly reducing, we've been significantly reducing child care and car insurance rates. We've been providing ICBC rebates. We've introduced free transit for children. We've been increasing the minimum wage. And of course, last week, increasing funding for school meals and supplies. These additional temporary measures build on the commitment, on our commitment as a government to help people that and the work that we've been doing all along. The Climate Action Tax Credit, the BC Family Benefit and the temporary cap on rent increases are the next steps we are taking to reduce costs and putting people and putting money in people's pockets because we know that that's what people need right now. I'm pleased for British Columbians that we have the economic strength to help the people who need it most. Thank you, and we look forward to answering any questions. Thanks, Minister. Premier, we'll invite you back up to the podium to take questions from the media. If you have a question, please step over to the mic. As a reminder to a media on the phone line, please press star one to enter the queue. You're limited to one question and one follow-up. First question, Richard Zussman, Global News. Premier, there are some jurisdictions that are giving a lot more than that. We're seeing some places that have direct rebate checks where every British Columbian would get money. You've decided not to do that. Why? And on the issue of cost of living, can you also speak to the deal that has been reached with the BCGEU where members, they are already saying that that deal may not hit goals of cost of living based on what we're seeing with inflation? Well, we've decided that we want to focus and target the help that we're giving to British Columbians because not all British Columbians are in a position that they're struggling, whether it be with groceries, whether it be with rent, whether it be with meeting their other daily costs. And so by targeting these resources, we're helping the people that need it the most. That's been our choice. Other jurisdictions have made similar choices. Others have made different choices. But ultimately we believe that this is a fair package that will meet the needs of people in the short term and we're gonna continue to work on these issues. It's not something that you just stop because inflation starts to go down. The cost of living is a fundamental issue for families wherever they may live, here on the island, in the lower mainland, in Northern and interior British Columbia, wherever you are costs are going up. And so we believe this is a good start. We started with addressing gas prices back in May and June and we're continuing to do that. And as I said, there'll be more happening on the hydrofront. We kept costs down to the best of our ability on those things that we can control. And we're hoping that people will find the way forward. The federal government's taking its initiative very seriously. I understand the cabinets here in Vancouver meeting to discuss these issues. I'll see the Prime Minister at the end of the week and I look forward to a report from him that will give me comfort that they're focusing on British Columbians as well. Richard, follow it. Also hoping to hear on you on the BCGU deal. But I also need to ask about Kevin Falcon was in Vancouver today cutting a red ribbon for what would have been the opening of the brand new Massey Bridge today. As you well know, a replacement will not be coming for a number of years still because of the decision your government made to cancel the bridge. What do you say to commuters in that region who continue to wait in deadlock every morning and afternoon? Well, with respect to the collective bargaining process and the government or the GU's attempt for ratification, they're taking the package back to their members. So are the hospital employees union. We believe it's a fair package that meets the interests of taxpayers who access services that meets the needs of workers who provide those services. And we've done our best to ensure that collective bargaining can work. We'll see what comes back from the membership. That's what these processes are all about. With respect to Mr. Falcon, I saw him last night talk about how unacceptable it was to have a structure for salaries at BC Ferries. But that was the structure that he put in place. So I'll reserve my comments on his issues around infrastructure projects. He was going to toll a bridge. He was going to toll a bridge in the lower mainland. We're in the business of taking tolls off bridges. We believe that the submersed tunnel is a better course of action for the environment, better course of action for cost effectiveness. And it meets the needs of the majority of the municipalities in the region who were all uniformly save one opposed to the BC Liberal plan. Next question is from Binder Sajan, CTV. Hi there. I know you mentioned some hydro relief potentially coming, working with landlords of BC, potentially some work there. And I'm just wondering, I know months ago you were saying that you were working on this every single day. So why not announce all these things together, especially for lower income people who are making difficult choices in terms of their budgets? Why not provide all the information right now? Well, BC Hydro is a regulated utility. We have to ensure that the significant profit that they made last year, not from hydro rates for customers in British Columbia, but through trade. BC Hydro has a privileged position as one of the dominant utilities in North America and they trade electricity on the open market in the United States and in Alberta to a degree. And they made significant revenues from that. We don't want to follow in the footsteps of the former government where they use our Crown corporations like instant teller machines. We want to make sure that this is done appropriately and it's taken more time at BC Hydro than we had hoped. And we're announcing the climate action tax credit today because the checks will be coming out in the first week in October. And we wanted people to know that help was on the way and that's why we're here today. I know those ICBC checks were supposed to come a lot sooner than they actually did for some people. So I'm just wondering if you're really confident that those checks are gonna come in the first week of October. And I also wanted to ask the finance minister as well. Last year we saw a surprise surplus for the budget. Are there any measures that you're taking or doing something that you're doing differently to make sure that if there is some sort of a surplus this year and not a deficit that money could be redirected possibly to programs like this to help people with inflation? Yeah, thanks for that, Binder. And that's exactly what we're doing here today is addressing needs today that British Columbians have and making sure that we're targeting it to those who need it most. And we're gonna continue to monitor how our economy continues to manage through this inflationary period. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates again. And again, so we're watching to see how things play out. I'll be bringing forward a quarterly update in the near term and we'll have certainly more to say about how we're doing economically. But as you well pointed out, making sure that it's a balanced perspective, making sure that we can manage this responsibly is part of what we're doing here today. British Columbians need help and we're here to deliver today and provide relief for British Columbians who need it most. Next question is from Mary Brooke, Island Social Trends. Hi, Premier. You mentioned the $60 million that was announced last week to go to schools, to school districts and you're framing it today as going to classrooms. But the money as you know is up to the school districts to decide how they want to use it. And as was mentioned last week by minister Whiteside, the distribution of the money will be through programs either existing or new. So the money isn't really gonna roll immediately to families and all the programs as well intended aren't necessarily going to reach all the families.  But do you have confidence that across the board in schools, students will be helped by this $60 million? Well, every school district has different needs. Suks' needs are different from those in the Fraser Canyon, different from those needs in the Peace River area. So we felt the best way to ensure that kids going to school across British Columbia were getting access to these dollars, their families, were getting access to these dollars was to do it through the school boards. And I would argue that there are many programs currently in place in districts across BC that will be kicking in immediately. And there will be others that will take more time. And that's why this $60 million is not expected to be drawn down completely in the first month or two of the school year, but in fact throughout the school year. And again, the best people to make those choices are the people on the ground in communities across the province. Mary, do you have a follow-up? Yeah, so in October, there will be elections for school trustees across the province. And I'm just wondering what you think parents should be looking for in their trustee candidates? I don't know. I haven't seen the list of candidates in my community. I'll look at them closely and make choices based on who I believe will be serving the best interest of kids and parents in the district that I live in. And I encourage other people to participate in the municipal elections upcoming. It's the most close to you form of government. And particularly if you've got youngsters in the K-12 system, you wanna know that your board of trustees is competent and focused on the needs of your family. That would be my advice to people. I'm Dr. Buffam, CTVVI. Hi Premier, as was alluded to, the Bank of Canada increased its interest rate hike today for the fifth time this year. In light of that, what do you say to folks who say, you know, British Columbians are gonna be struggling even more in light of that and more ought to have been done to help them today and is maybe more help coming down the line? Well, we didn't anticipate or we couldn't anticipate what the Bank of Canada would have done today. But as the minister said, we now will take stock of that. One of the challenges we have is that circumstances have been changing rather rapidly over the past number of years, whether it be responding to COVID, responding to atmospheric rivers, horrific fire seasons, you name it. Government's job is to respond to circumstances as we find them and do the best we can to either create programs or use the programs that are currently in place to meet the needs of the public. We will monitor the impacts of the interest rate increases. That's gonna be very challenging for many in the community and I'll certainly talk to the prime minister about that on Friday when I see him. Follow up, Rob? I do, and it's on a different topic. It relates to crime. There was a murder in Nanaimo on Monday night. I don't know if you heard about it, but it was a 29 year old man who was stabbed to death in the playground in Mafio Sutton Park, right in the heart of Nanaimo. It happened on Monday night. The RCMP have said it was an unprovoked attack, a 17 and 19 year old are now arrested, not yet charged at this point. Leonard Krogue, Nanaimo's mayor said he understands the murder victim was somebody who was disabled. I guess I'm just wondering if I can get you to weigh in on those facts and that murder. Well, certainly my heart goes out to the victim in the horrific act of random violence. It may not be random. We'll have to see what the investigation unfolds as the investigation unfolds, what the circumstances were. But I have to say, I think all British Columbians and in fact Canadians are observing an increase in violence in our communities, whether it be the mass shootings in Nova Scotia just 18 months ago, the attacks in Saskatchewan that are very front and center in our minds today, and also the events you've just articulated in Nanaimo. There has been an increase in violence against each other. And quite frankly, we all have a responsibility, not just governments, not just public safety officials, but all of us to work together to figure out how we address these issues. When it comes to mental health and addictions, we started a trend across the country by establishing a minister and a ministry. That now is common practice in every jurisdiction in the country. So making changes in how we deliver services, how we are there for people when they need us is critical. We did a review of the police act with the view to making sure that communities have law enforcement officers that have the tools they need to not just deal with crime, but to deal with mental health challenges because that's oftentimes what they're called out to address. And that's not part of their training. We need to make that part of training. We need to make sure that law enforcement has a balance of people with expertise in this area, as well as those who've gone through training to do the frontline work that they are there to provide for us and we're so grateful for. Rob Shah, check these. Hi, Premier. It looks like to take full advantage of this. You need to have a household income of under $117,000, which is the Canada, which is the child benefit threshold. There's a lot of people who have income slightly more than that, who would consider themselves struggling right now. So I'm wondering how you came to that amount. Do you think it's sufficient when there are people who will be making more, who are at risk due to interest rates or affordability of losing their housing or being unable to pay their bills? Yeah, we didn't thank you for the question, Rob. We didn't set out to find all of the solutions to the challenges of today. We set out to take the pieces that we could, a billion dollars worth, and direct it towards those who need it the most. Are people gonna miss that threshold? Is it gonna be sufficient for all families? Certainly not, but it is a significant step. A billion dollars is a ton of money and we need to make sure that it has a maximum impact. I'm gonna ask Selena to answer more detailed questions about the thresholds, but we set out to do the best we could today. Some have disagreed with that, but I think there are gonna be a whole bunch of people that are gonna be grateful for the help and hopeful that we see a downturn in inflationary pressures and a return to what was a more normal environment for interest rates, which were virtually zero for a long, long, long, long time. And again, that's federal responsibility and I'm sure the Prime Minister will be able to give me a good explanation as to why they're not intervening in any meaningful way to address that. Follow up, Rob? Oh, Minister? I think the Premier asked me to be a little bit more detailed on the threshold and part of the decision was about looking at existing programs, Rob, making sure that we could move these resources to families as quickly as we could. So that's part of it. These are existing programs, but also the free transit is for all children, regardless of income. The program for schools, for example, the Student and Family Affordability Fund that we set out is for any family that's struggling. There's no threshold for that. Any family that needs help with supplies, with school supplies, with meal programs, again, that's available and we'll be talking more about the hydro opportunity in the coming months before the end of the year. So we recognize that not all programs are gonna benefit everyone equally, but again, we wanted to target those who are most impacted. And the last thing I'll just say is the rent threshold. So for those families that are renting, it's just a 2% right across the board. Again, that's not related at all to income. Go ahead, Rob. Would be interested in both of you on this as well. And Premier, you just touched on it. The Bank of Canada hiking interest rates again today to a very aggressive territory. Is it too much based on what you're hearing from people? Do you think the Bank of Canada has gone too far on its interest rates and we're squeezing people between the problem of inflation and the solution of interest rates? Yeah, well, it's always a delicate balance to try and find that space where public policy is intersecting with public need. And as I say, this is federal responsibility. I'm not trying to avoid answering the question. Instead, I'm going to say that I will talk to the Prime Minister this week and I'll get a better answer directly from him. I'm hopeful and all of you have access to the federal cabinet ministers that are in Vancouver. I'm hopeful you'll put those questions to them as well. But at the end of the day, we are experiencing something we haven't seen since the 1980s. And that's going to require us to roll up our sleeves and figure out were there solutions in the 1980s that we want to revisit? Were there solutions that were disregarded in the 1980s that may be relevant to today? Those are always challenges for governments, regardless of where you are in the country. On the rent side, we landed at 2%. Nova Scotia landed at 2%. Ontario is at 2.5%. And other provinces will go in other directions. In British Columbia, where we have high costs of living to start with, adding increases in the interest rates are certainly challenging. And we have to keep a close eye on that. And I know the minister will. Next question. Zoe Duclo, Capitol Daily. Hi there. Are you concerned about the trends that we're starting to see of doctors de-enrolling from MSP and starting to charge privately? I'm not concerned. Well, of course I'm concerned about the challenges we're facing on delivery of public health services in Canada, not just in British Columbia. As the head of the Council of Federation of all the premiers in the country, I've been tasked by my colleagues of different political stripes, liberals, conservatives, independence, to make the case to Ottawa that they need to sit down with us, not in an accusing way, but in a complementary and partnership way to reimagine healthcare so that we can meet the challenges of an aging population, which includes doctors. We have more doctors 70 years old or higher in the South Island than any other part of the country. That's a problem. We can't force doctors to continue working beyond their period of time that they want to work. So that means more recruitment, more retention, looking at new ways to compensate, trying to keep our elder doctors in place, either as mentors or providing other services rather than having what has become the norm, an office with overhead and all of the other challenges. As we look at this, we're going to need to do it arm in arm with the doctors of BC. And for the first time in my memory, and I've been engaged in governments for almost 30 years or over 30 years, what I've seen in the past number of months is doctors working with the Ministry of Health to try and find solutions. Everyone wants to make sure we're providing the best care possible. Doctors want to do that. The administration wants to do that. Certainly patients want to see that. So I'm confident that we're at the table. We're working together. We've made some preliminary steps in the right direction with respect to overhead costs and retention issues. And now we need to do more. We need to train more. We need to make sure Ottawa is working with us on a human resource strategy because we can't just keep poaching from other parts of the country. BC and Alberta have a capacity to pay more, but should we be able to go and say to nurses and other healthcare providers in other provinces, come here and we'll pay you more? That doesn't build a country. That fractures a country. Zoe, do you have a follow-up? I do. On an unrelated topic regarding capping rent at 2% is welcome for many people, but is your government interested or talking about the possibility of unit-based rent control? Want me to take that? Yeah. Right now we're really focused on today. As the former Minister of Housing that was, we did a task force, a rental housing task force. It was something that we'd heard a fair bit about and I know that Minister Rankin, who is currently the housing minister, is looking at what else we might need to do in order to help the one and a half million British Columbians who are renters. There have no decisions have been made on that. Next question. Alec Lazambi, BC Today. So the province has reached a tentative deal with 6,000 healthcare workers, which the HEU says provides for inflation, sensitive wage increases and other compensation improvements. Here in the next provincial budget. Wow. So a lot of questions in there. And thank you and welcome to the scrum. So while negotiations are currently under way with the public sector, it can't really provide too many details because it still has to be ratified, it has to go back to the members and I want to respect that. What I can say is that this is a reasonable and fair deal for employees now, as well as three years from now. And the deal needs to balance the needs of all of these public sector workers, including the healthcare workers that you mentioned with our fiscal responsibilities for the province and the people of British Columbia. Alec, do you have a follow-up? No, I'm good. Thank you very much. Thank you. And our last question on site is from Justin Samanski-Langier, Black Press. Thank you, Premier. People with disabilities in BC have been struggling to afford the daily necessities and have been even before the current economic situation became what it is. Is the government planning to expand financial support for people living with disabilities in British Columbia? Thank you very much for the question. And one of the first things we did upon being sworn in in 2017 was increase income assistance and disability pensions. And we did that again the next year and last year's budget was the largest increase in BC history. And we still have a long way to go. The challenges of living with a disability in British Columbia increase as time goes by. We need to make sure that we're providing the resources that those families, those individuals need to make ends meet at the end of the day and provide other opportunities as well. And that's what we've been focusing on, trying to ensure that the earnings exemption, for example, for those who are on income assistance or disability pensions can earn a bit more to supplement the pensions that they're already entitled to as part of our budget process. I know Minister Robinson will look at these issues very closely through the fall and preparing the budget for 2023. You have a follow-up? Yes, on the same note there, some disabled British Columbians have chosen medically assisted death. Due to the lack of support they feel they've received to continue living. What do you think that says about the government's approach and does that change anything about what the approach will be moving forward? I'm not familiar with anything other than anecdotal evidence of what you're just asking me. So I don't want to speculate on that. Individuals are just that. They make choices to meet their needs. I'm not aware of the circumstances that you're just describing to me. So I'll leave that, it's okay with you. Have one more question on the phone line. Von Palmer, Vancouver Sun. Oh, good afternoon, Premier. Hey, Von. Sorry, I'm not out there in Langford with you. I hear it's a beautiful place. You should venture out of Fairfield every now and again. It's lovely out here. Even out of my basement, you should say, but the cap on rent. So you've capped rent well below the rate of inflation. Doesn't that discourage investment in rental housing and development of rental housing? It does have consequences, absolutely, Von. And that's why we're continuing to work with the landlords of BC to try and find ways that we can meet their needs in the long term. But we have a short-term crisis, quite frankly, and 1.5 million British Columbians that rent will benefit from this, and it still is an increase, as I said, comparable to that that's going, taking place in Nova Scotia and slightly below what's happening in Ontario. But I absolutely agree that we need to ensure that the very vital housing stock that's provided not by massive landlords, but small landlords who are renting out part of their basement or a second property in a community that they don't even live in just to try and make ends meet. We need to be conscious of that, and we are. We're monitoring that and we'll keep talking and seeing where we need to go in the months ahead. Von, do you have a follow-up? Yes, please. Premier, is the government still working on legislation that would allow the province to override local government in order to expedite approval of needed types of housing? Hey, Von, it's Selena here as the previous housing minister. And I can say that I've been working very closely with David E. B. on a range of tools that we are considering to do an update to the 30 point plan that we brought forward in 2018. We've certainly all heard David E. B. speak to certainly his frustration and I think our government's frustration when there are really good viable projects brought forward in local governments for their own reasons, make decisions that don't support the fact that we are and continue to be in a challenged time around housing. And so that is something that we're continuing to work on through this time, even in David's absence from around the cabinet table. That's all the time we have for questions today. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.