The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - If Trump Loses Will There Be A Peaceful Transition Of Power? -- Of Course There Will

Episode Date: September 24, 2020

I had a speech in Calgary today -- but I wasn't there. How'd that work for you?

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily and this was well it's an interesting day here we are in week 28 thursday it was an interesting day for me as many of you know, I do a fair amount of public speaking in a normal year. Not so much this year, obviously, because many of the places where I would be giving a speech have cancelled their events for the year, delayed them into next year, various postponements, and that's unfortunate, but understandable. Now, there's still been a few. I've done a few panels. I've hosted a few things like that all by Zoom. But today was the first day where I was booked to do a speech. It was in Calgary.

And a month ago, as things seemed to be doing really well I decided I would actually go there to do the speech well you know what's happened in the last you know week or so things have kind of cratered on that good news front in terms of COVID-19 and so I I decided, you know what, I don't think I'm going to go through the problems of getting to Calgary. Now it wasn't, the plane didn't bother me so much. It's all the other stuff, sort of getting to the airport, going through the airport, getting off the plane, going through the airport in Calgary, going into town, going into a hotel, being in the lobby, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It goes on and on, right? So I decided, because the option was always there, do it remotely. Do the speech by Zoom.

Now, it was a big convention, the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. There was 1,500 delegates to that association. Now, 1,450 of them were going to be staying in their communities across Alberta, and there would only be 50, which is kind of around the limit, in the convention centre, and they were mostly board members and staff needed to pull this thing off. But it was going to be in the original convention center, so it's not like there was going to be a problem with distancing. There was going to be lots of room. But I still decided I'd do it remotely,

and they were totally comfortable with that. So today was the day, and they had a studio book here in Toronto that I would use because I have some visuals that go with one of my presentations, the one in which I was going to give today. And so got all set up, got out there early, well, not that early, early Alberta time, but not that early for Toronto time because it was a keynote speech launching their convention.

So I get the cue to start going, and I go. And I don't know how long I was going for, five or seven minutes, when suddenly one of the guys in the studio here in Toronto said, you've got to stop. I'm thinking, what does he mean? I've got to stop. I'm thinking, what do you mean? What does he mean? I got to stop. I just started.

It turns out that they were getting video, but they weren't getting audio. So it was like lip slap. It's just me standing there looking very engaged, but not sounding very good. So anyway, they, you know, there were gremlins on the line somewhere. They went in and figured out what the problem was and fixed it. And so I started and started all over again.

Now, it is the strangest feeling. It's very weird. If you're used to public speaking, then you know that part of the way you manage these things is to get a vibe off the audience in the room. You want to get a sense of whether people are reacting one way or another. It's different than doing this podcast. I have no idea what you're doing. But when you're public speaking, they're sitting there in front of you,

and you can get a sense right away of whether they're engaged, whether they're listening to you, or whether they're talking amongst themselves, whether they laugh at your jokes or seem emotional at the parts of your speech that may be drawing on emotion. Anyway, you don't get that on Zoom. You don't get anything. You don't hear a thing in the room, right? In that sense, it is like a podcast. But I'm not expecting you to be on the edge of your seat listening to this, and I'm not expecting you to be listening to it all at the same time and all of that.

Speeches are different. You want a room with a vibe. So I had no idea. And after that kind of rocky start, when I left the studio, because they were well now into their convention thing, so it's not like anybody had time to talk to me. So I left, and it was out in Mississauga, and I had to drive back into downtown Toronto.

And all the way way I'm thinking, I have no idea whether that worked or not. I just have no idea. And fortunately, as it turned out, by the time I got to downtown Toronto and started organizing for the other things I had to do today, an email came in and it was from one of the organizers. And it went above and beyond saying, oh, thanks very much, it all worked very well. She was like over the moon. She was really happy with the way it went.

And I'm assuming she was telling me the truth about all this. Very apologetic about the problems at the beginning, but said, and this is what I really enjoyed. the truth about all this, very apologetic about the problems at the beginning, but said, and this is what I really enjoyed, she said, there was a standing ovation at the end for your speech. I thought, that is weird. That's hard to imagine. A room where the speaker isn't even there.

The speaker can't see the room. The speaker has no idea what's going on in the room. And yet they were on their feet. That's nice. So I felt much better. There's still nothing like being there. And for them and for their delegates around the province of Alberta, there's nothing like being there. I mean, it's a convention.

And, you know, one of the reasons they call it a convention is people convene. They get together. And at meetings like this, it's really important that they're together because not everything happens in workshops or at keynote speeches. Where the things really happen are kind of in the hallways of a convention, where you get to meet your counterparts from other communities. Some of them you know from past conventions, some of them you don't, but all of them you get into the discussion mode.

And right now, especially in Alberta, with the unbelievable things that are happening, COVID-19, energy sector issues, mental health issues. Mayor Nenshi from Calgary was there. He talked about the mental health issues today. All of these things are issues that confront local administrators, whether they be mayors or reeves or councillors, what have you. And understanding through a workshop how to handle them is one thing. Hearing the real-time experiences of those who are faced with some of the similar problems that you have, and hearing how they're dealing with it, you know, is really good. You know, I shared a story, a COVID-19 story from our community

of Stratford, Ontario, where Mayor Dan Matheson told me the other day about one of the things they're trying to do. I mean, it's one thing to say to, you know, frightened students and concerned parents that, oh, listen, I'm sorry, but education is a provincial responsibility. You know, you try making that argument to parents and students, and they'll just laugh you out of town, if not laugh you out of your office. So in Stratford, school boards, local authorities have been trying to do something. And one of the ways they've been doing something, given the nice weather in the fall,

is get students out of school and set up their classrooms outside, where it's healthier, and it becomes an experience. So the city officials got park benches and picnic tables that had been set up through the summer in different parts of the city. Got them together in certain open spaces near schools and in the town square, the market square, they call it in Stratford, and set up classrooms. They expanded their broadband facilities and capabilities. So internet, Wi-Fi was more available for students in those areas. And so that's great.

It's innovative. It costs money and the money they don't have, but money they found somewhere. So anyway, I'm sure that in the convention that's going on with the AUMA in Alberta, based out of Calgary for this year, there are going to be all kinds of little ideas like that that they share with each other, and that's great. That's what conventions are all about.

So I share that experience with you. I'll let you know. Before I go on, I've got a couple of things I want to mention. But before I go on, tomorrow's the weekend special. Could use some letters from you guys on any subject you wish. I've got a bunch, some of which are worthy of reading on the program, others not so much. But nevertheless, send along what you have to say

to themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. Don't be shy. Okay, what was I going to read? Well, a number of people asked me today about this latest Trump thing. His declaration last night that he wouldn't necessarily go along with the peaceful transition of power

if he loses the election. And so that, of course, is consuming everybody's time in terms of the media in the U.S., and I understand that, but really it's garbage. It is garbage. Right? That's not going to happen. This is the normal Trump bloated attempt to try and change the channel, change the subject of discussion.

If you recall 2016, it was only four years ago. But if you recall, when it looked like Hillary Clinton was going to win in those final weeks of that campaign, he said he wouldn't accept the result, that it was a rigged election. Now, he didn't go into the peaceful transition route because there was no such thing at that time as a peaceful transition from one party to another.

That wouldn't have happened there. It did, of course, happen the other way around because, wow, what a miracle, Trump won. And did the Democrats try to withhold the result even though they had 3 million more votes than the Republicans? Of course not. They went by what is the peaceful transition way and obeying the Electoral College results.

But Trump couldn't stand the fact that he'd lost by 3 million votes to Hillary Clinton, organized a commission to investigate the election process because he was convinced it was unfair and there were three million bad votes. Just a coincidence, of course, same number. Commission met for a couple of weeks, a month, and then folded, said they could find nothing. There was no evidence at all. But hey, let's stoke those same fires. Let's claim it's all rigged. Let's claim it's all, you know, when you're 10 points down, as he seems to be in most national polls right now,

let's claim the whole thing is a bogus result and he doesn't have to accept it. Folks, this is just, you know the word I want to use. Even Mitch McConnell stood up today and said, hey, there will be a peaceful transition of power if that's what happens after the election result on November 3rd and on January 20th, the new president will be sworn in. I still think, as I said yesterday, that Mitch McConnell, in spite of everything else about him, he knows that Trump's cooked. And everything that's going on with the court is him dealing with his own

legacy as the person who who stacked all the courts, as has been his right on a conservative bent. And that's what's going on again now. Anyway, enough on that. Here's something more interesting, I think, than listening to Trump's latest bloviate. There was a little thing in the speech from the throne yesterday about electric vehicles and how the government is getting behind that

and helping out on the electric vehicle front. Well, at the same time, something was happening in California, and I think this is quite the statement. This is kind of a groundbreaking thing. As much as it's only 2020 and it's hard to look down further down the road, but 15 years isn't that long. California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks starting in 2035 as the top U.S. auto market shifts to electric vehicles to reduce climate-warming emissions. 2035, you will not be able to buy a new gas-powered car in California.

Now, do you think they're going to be the only state that does that? Maybe. But I don't know. Things are moving in that direction. You can see it. All the big automakers are building electric vehicles. I mean, once upon a time, it was basically just Tesla, and they've made a killing out of doing it.

But when you kind of look behind the drapes right now and you see BMW, Mercedes, Audi, the big European auto manufacturers, they're going, hey, enough with Tesla. We can make a better electric vehicle. And that's what they're trying to do. So these next couple of years are going to be very interesting on that front.

Very interesting. Noam Chomsky. You know that name. One of the great writers of our time. Very left-wing. But nevertheless, somebody who a lot of people respect, may not agree with, but respect as a writer and a thinker. So Noam Chomsky is now warning that the world is at the most dangerous moment in human history owing to the climate crisis, the threat of nuclear war, and rising authoritarianism.

He said in an interview, it's in the New Statesman, I believe. This is what he said in an interview, it's in the New Statesman, I believe. This is what he said in an interview. The only hope for dealing with the two existential crises which do threaten extinction is to deal with them through a vibrant democracy with engaged, informed citizens who are participating in developing programs to deal with these crises. So that's all we need. An engaged and vibrant democracy.

Informed citizens who participate. Remember what John Turner always said? Through his life, and we lost him, as you know, this week? Last week now. He said, democracy doesn't happen by accident. You have to participate. So that's what Noam Chomsky is saying, the same thing. You have to participate. Okay. One other thing.

Actually, two other things. First of all, on the education front, this is interesting. Bloomberg's telling us that Harvard and Princeton saw a significant drop in enrollment this year, with Harvard's numbers declining almost 20%. All instruction at Harvard is remote for the 2021 academic year, and Princeton approved twice as many requests Instruction at Harvard is remote for the 2021 academic year. And Princeton approved twice as many requests to defer first-year enrollment than it usually gives. So there you have it.

Students making decisions this year not to take university, not to take classes, given all the issues surrounding classes. Now, that's not universal. It hasn't happened everywhere. I was, as some of you may know, I was Chancellor of Mount Allison University in New Brunswick for eight years. And so obviously, I have a particular passion for Mount A. In Hannah Mansingh's university, he graduated from there. I didn't graduate from Mount A. I didn't graduate from anywhere, but I do have an honorary doctorate from there and I think 12 other universities. So whatever that means, it's very nice. I love my honorary doctorates, but I'm afraid they're not

the same as one real one. Anyway, Mount A is a small university on the East Coast. And, you know, they were obviously very worried about this year and the impact that COVID-19 was going to have on their enrolment, because enrolment is obviously very important for small universities. But the last numbers I saw just a couple of days ago were very good. They're down, down a bit, but I think just under 10%. So that's not bad. And, in fact, it's pretty good. So more power to the Mounties at Mount A.

And here's your last one, and it's about what we eat. As the COVID-19 changes how people eat, most are choosing vegetarian or less meat. I don't think that's surprising, right? There's a piece in the Washington Post that reports that since the U.S. shutdowns began in mid-March, tofu shortages have been reported from Seattle to the East Coast. Tofu shortages. I don't like tofu. I'm sorry. I've been eating it, but I don't like it.

I have been drinking celery juice, big time. Celery juice. It's not the greatest tasting thing in the world, but it's supposed to be really, really good for you. So I have celery juice every day, although I've missed the last few days. But back to Stratford this evening and back onto the old celery bandwagon.

Where were we? I interrupted a great story about tofu. Tofu shortages have been reported from Seattle to the East Coast, with manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand, even as grocery stores ration sales to customers. And Nielsen data shows tofu sales are 40% higher in the first half of 2020 as compared to the first half of last year go figure tofu you love your tofu I love my celery All right.

Enough. Enough for Thursday of week 28. It's been great talking to you. Remember, the weekend special tomorrow, the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com, the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. Write if you've got something significant you want to say. In the meantime, that's it for the Bridge Daily for this Thursday.

I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you again in 24 hours. Thank you.