The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Life Goes On -- As We End Week Ten

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

Your questions, comments and thoughts after another week of dealing with COVID-19.

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily for this friday on week 10 we're at the end of week 10 of these special daily broadcasts that are a result of COVID-19. That's why we started doing them. That's why we're still doing them 10 weeks in. And we'll talk about that, the duration of this podcast. A little later. In this special, weekend special, you know, Fridays we're devoted to your thoughts and questions and comments.

And once again this week, you have not disappointed by sending lots in. A couple of words, first of all, about the cover art for today's podcast not the usual sort of letters going through the post office picture that we do on Fridays this one's a little different it's a picture that Cynthia took last night every year on our porch our front porch, we get doves trying to nest.

And usually we try to encourage them not to nest here because they make a bit of a mess. But this year we got to them late and it was clear that she was not going to move. And she didn't want to move. And she didn't want to move. And she was very protective of her nest. I think they call these mourning doves. Mourning with a U.

And they do that because the sound they make is regarded by some as sad. So they're called mourning doves. Other people call them turtle doves. I think there are a number of different names for them. And they usually have two chicks after their nesting period. Well, as you can tell from the cover art, that happened. That appears to have happened yesterday. So we are the proud owners on our porch,

at least for a little while before they disappear, of three morning doves. And they're very, they're pretty good, I've got to say. They don't mind when we go out, as we did last night, as we do every night at 7.30 in our town to clap for frontline health care workers. And they watched. They're focused in on us when we're out on the porch,

but they didn't run away, even though we're yelling and clapping and everything else along with our neighbors. But anyway, and in some fashion, it's a sign of new life, a sign of a new year, a sign of spring moving along, getting closer to summer. The days are so much longer now. I think sunset's here tonight around 845 or 850. And we got, what, another almost month to go before the longest day.

So days are going to get much longer. Evening golf, if you're allowed to play. In some ways, it's beautiful playing golf at night. You know, in the evening. It's really good playing at night in the dark because you can't see how bad your shots are. Anyway, let's get into your comments and your questions and your thoughts.

There's a mix once again this week of general comments and big ideas. Because that's carried on for another week. And I'm glad it has. But we'll start with some just general comments. And our first one comes from Pasadena. No, not that Pasadena. Our Pasadena.

This comes from Emmy Penny in Pasadena, Newfoundland. Here's what Emmy writes. I own a gift shop in Pasadena, Newfoundland. For 27 years now, and there have been ups and downs, but nothing like the effect of this pandemic. We temporarily closed on March 19th, and at that time my five staff were laid off. I'm so grateful that I've personally been kept busy with my online store, two and a half years old now, and curbside pickup.

When we first closed, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pay the rent, so I'm eternally grateful for the local and online support. Our shop has rustic local juniper wood on the floor, and it was badly in need of refinishing. Of course, it was impossible to do before because we are open every day. I guess the silver lining of this pandemic is that we are now closed long enough to give the floor a facelift. So while I'm applying the stain, quarter of the shop at a time, the past few weeks, you've been keeping me company with your podcast. Well, isn't that nice?

From Emmy Penny in Pasadena, Newfoundland. Newfoundland and Labrador is, of course, the correct name of the province. Now, I'll give Emmy a plug here. I took a peek. Giftsofjoy.ca. That's her gift shop in Newfoundland. Gifts of joy. All one word.

.ca. All right. Ryan Angus writes from Brampton. I was thinking a topic for the show could be about moms and dads who have to put their career on hold because of the pandemic. My wife and I have both been working from home and taking care of the kids for the last 10 weeks. With everything starting to open up, we will have to go back to work.

Without school or daycare in Ontario, I may have to go back to work. Without school or daycare in Ontario, I may have to give up my career. My wife is the breadwinner. 15 years seniority and all that, vacation time, accumulated, gone down the drain. It may just be temporary layoff for me, but my fear is a lot of companies will use this situation to right-size themselves without looking like the bad guys. All right, Ryan, good point. We should think about the moms and dads. And the sacrifices some may have to make now that things are starting to slowly reopen.

Kids at home, somebody has to stay at home. Eva and Kai Johansson. And this is a result of a podcast the other night that we headlined, Gotta Love Those Vikings, as we were talking about Denmark, right? So Eva and Kai write, Denmark is awesome. That's where we both were born.

So we know a lot about Denmark as all our families live there still, and we usually travel over once a year. So we have avidly been watching and talking to our family members about the outcomes at home, which we still call our beloved DK, throughout this pandemic. Denmark has navigated this pretty well and hopefully will continue to do so. They started reopening, I think it was four weeks ago, and they have not seen a spike. And they had held down their numbers, both cases and deaths, on the lower end of the bracket of European countries. Eva also mentions that she loves the sounds that Bella made the other night. That's our dog, our toller. And I think their dog's name's Odie, who heard Bella on the podcast

and was thinking they were getting guests. Okay, Barry Hoffman from Burlington, Ontario. My bride and I laughed when you mentioned the 90-10 split of household duties. That was another little thing we ran the other night based on that tweet in Japan where somebody was doing a survey on who did most of the household duties and there was a 90-10 split between the wife and the husband.

Anyway, the Hoffmans had a good laugh about that. My suggestion for a follow-up, let Cynthia come on the podcast and give the nation her take on the statistic. Could be most informative, enlightening, uplifting, downright hilarious. Well, glad you think it'll be funny, Barry. Remember, gardening is worth extra waiting. Well, if it is, the statistic in Cynthia's favor would only go up.

I'm doing a lot more than I usually do, but nobody does as much as she does, and I think in most homes that is often the situation. Barry claims it's a 65-35 split in his house. And then he says, but you can guess which way. Bill Chichard from Grand Bend, Ontario. Grand Bend's right out there on Lake Huron. It's a great summer spot. People love it out there.

And it's like a flashback to the 50s in some ways, especially on a Saturday night with the cars driving up and down the main street with the water off to the west, the sunset to the west. I remember I used to fly over Grand Bend when I was taking primary flying. When I was with the Canadian Armed Forces, we were flying chipmunks out of Camp Borden near Barrie, Ontario,

and we used to fly out towards Grand Bend. David Oliver, who does write occasionally and clearly has a sense of history and loves it when I talk about history and usually is able to make whatever comment I said even better by adding his own, which he does again. Today, after hearing the other night me quoting Mark Osborne Humphreys, quoting his article, which was quoting the Victoria Colonist,

about the state of how Canadians were who were called up to service in 1917 during the First World War. Canadians were malnourished, underdeveloped, and prone to sickness. And that we were going to learn a big lesson from that about ensuring that Canadians became more fit. And that was one of the reasons we created a Department of Health. Didn't have one at that time. So David sends along this quote from a book called

This is Public Health, A Canadian History, which details how the interwar period between the First and Second World War led to a decline in funding for public health in Canada. With this result, quoting from the book, As with World War I, large numbers of young men called up for military service had to be rejected because of their lack of physical fitness. 43% in 1941 were rejected. Over 50% in 1944.

Those are staggering, startling figures. Thanks for that, David. Kurt Christie from Guelph, Ontario. And this is as we slip into the big idea section of the podcast today. Got a bunch of them. Remember, we were looking for big ideas, something that could inspire the nation, that people could get behind,

that could actually not only make our society better, but could create jobs, could be a reason why governments would spend big money on a big project that would make life better. So here we go with Kurt Christie's idea. It's well known that white surfaces reflect solar heat back into the atmosphere, whereas dark surfaces absorb heat. This is the reason cities are warmer in summer than surrounding rural areas.

Those darker surfaces add to our global warming problem, soon to become a tsunami. So for the solicited big idea, let's give our cities a splash of white by installing new roofs and replacing old roofs with white ones. On my property, there's a house, a separate garage, and a tool shed. All now have white roofs. Perhaps we could also paint our driveways commercial flat roofs and asphalt roads a lighter color. But we need a push from government to turn these thoughts into reality. This could take the form of new laws requiring white roofs, or at the very least, financial incentives to do so. Governments could also fund lighter-colored roadways. Now, if you think Kurt's gone a little wacky, he hasn't.

These ideas are not original. New York, Chicago, and Melbourne, Australia have developed small-scale programs to make cities whiter. Why couldn't Canada do the same on a larger scale? Okay. Interesting. I did not know that, Kurt. I probably should have known that, but I didn't know that. Good big idea. And obviously, that's one that could cost a few bucks, but it could be a national idea. It could certainly put painters and roof people to work. Carolyn Black, another frequent writer of the program, the podcast, she has a big idea. In Ontario, and I suspect other provinces,

by law, cities and municipalities must balance their annual budgets. Corresponding recently with a city councillor in Waterloo, I asked how they were managing the Waterloo's budgets, given the significant drop in revenue. She told me they would draw down reserves that were allocated for infrastructure. Infrastructure that just last year we were told was essential and required a long-term property tax increase. She said that at this point a further increase in property taxes was not being considered. Across Canada we're hearing that roads, bridges, sewers, public buildings and spaces are aging and in critical need of repair. In 2008-9, governments pumped billions into infrastructure as a way to prop up the economy.

Given that now it seems that it may be the first thing to be cut, at least at the local level, having a big project to do this critical work could be one of the positive legacies of the pandemic. All right, Carolyn. Good big idea. Infrastructure across the country. Easy to drop billions and billions of dollars on that. Bail belding. I don't know where bail is writing from but here's the big idea a national utility

corridor across the country from coast to coast to coast future proof the corridor by running a water line along with electrical telecommunications as well as oil and gas. This also helps the north in many ways. Run it to a northerly port somewhere along the Northwest Passage. Now how about just to Churchill, Manitoba? That'd be a good start. We've got a natural port already there. Water may end up being our most important natural resource going forward. Why build future electrical utilities in any province when Newfoundland looks like it could end up with a white elephant? Telecommunications are only going to become more and more essential.

Petroleum may be a sunset industry, but it is still going to be needed for the foreseeable future, especially natural gas. A big project that would put many people to work in each province and, in my opinion, become more important than the CNR. All right, this is a really long one, so I've had to cut it down a fair chunk. But Donna Lockhart.

I was hoping someone else would mention this big idea, but no, so I felt compelled to put this out there. It addresses issues from the impact of COVID, helps the economy, moves us to a better place, and sustainability in a sector that needs it. It also supports climate action in a big way. Okay, touching a lot of bases there. Here it is in a nutshell. Let's change the way we produce and manufacture our food and our food supply chain. Let's move away from big agri-farms to local organic farms and greenhouses. Food in particular is essential, it's critical,

and it begs the question, how much reliance on other countries do we want when considering the critical aspects of daily living? Now, Donna's got like a seven or eight point plan here. I'm just going to read you a couple because to me, I think they capture the essence of what she's talking about. If we produce and sold more food locally, we would be supporting local farmers, reduce our carbon footprint, eat better and fresher. If we move to organic and eliminated pesticides, we would improve the soil and get healthier. Local farms would increase

local employment. That's one. Here's another one. Technology. I feel that online shopping is going to continue so those in the tech field will improve our online order and pickup experiences. Many local farms in my area have cooperated together to sell their goods and need technology to support them and a third and final one culture shift we started to see a culture shift to buy canadian first when free trade agreement the free trade agreement was being renegotiated last fall people started to look at what they bought and where it was made or came from. The organic and less meat movement has been happening and ramped up during this pandemic. All right, Donna, that's just, you know, a snapshot of some of the

things that she was saying, but I think we get the message that it's time that, well, not necessarily time, but this is an opportunity for us to rethink and reorganize the way we produce and manufacture our food and our food supply chain. Paul Sidwell. Here's what he has to say with a big idea. Paul is from Toronto. My idea is not a grand nation-building project, but more of a project that will grow our standing in the international community. Everyone knows that the development of a vaccine is critical to ending this pandemic, and I'm confident that between the University of Saskatchewan, Oxford University, and all the others, more than 100 of them, organizations, we will find a vaccine in record time.

If you didn't hear last night's podcast and you're interested in this whole vaccine issue, you should download it and listen to it because there's a lot of good stuff in it. Anyway, back to Paul's idea. My idea is that Canada, with the support and direction of the federal government, should start today in developing all the items required to successfully administer the vaccine to people. We can call it the Canada kit and make sure that the world knows that Canada will provide you the kit, the Canada kit, so your people can be vaccinated. We should start this as

soon as possible in developing the hundreds of millions of Canada kits that could be used. G7 countries, if they cannot make suitable kits, would be able to access our supply and pay accordingly. But countries with less resources would pay less, maybe nothing, if the Canada kit team think that this is appropriate. Interesting, you know, Paul never details what he's thinking about that goes in the Canada kit. You know, we're talking about a hockey puck. No, I know, you're talking about, could be a Band-Aid,

could be syringe, could be any number of things, but you don't list them. But I think there's an interesting idea there in a Canada kit. Okay, a couple more here. This one's from Robert Welch. He's in Vermont. One of our listeners on the other side of the border. Both the U.S. and Canada need a fiber optic network

capable of delivering the internet speeds necessary for today's applications. Yes, some people do have fiber optic built to their door. Bell 5, for example, comes to mind in Canada. And Verizon Fios in the U.S. But it isn't built out nearly as well as it should be. The speed of the Internet and the capability for sending and receiving data is only as good as the connection that's at your home. We could have all sorts of fiber optic lines lining every single divided highway in North America,

and it wouldn't matter if the line going to the door wasn't of the same type. This public works project resembles the Rural Electrification Act in the U.S. of President Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. I would say true high-speed internet delivered by fiber optic lines is to 2020's economic rebound as getting power to farms was in the 1930s and 40s. Agree with that? How do people wanting to get out of the poverty that hangs over our rural areas get out from under that cloud without that technology aside from moving away?

Tales of rural folk moving to the city is a tale as American as it is Canadian. All right, Bob. Thanks, Bob. Okay, you know that on these weekend specials, I try to end with a letter that in some way has, you know, moved me, that I think captures the spirit of what we're all going through right now and have been going through for 10 weeks plus.

And there have always been letters that I've been able to go to to fulfill this kind of last letter moment. And sure enough, we've got another one here today. It also comes from a name that's familiar to this podcast. It's interesting. You know, we get a lot of repeat writers. Some I use. Some I don't because I like to try to get the new writers in

as often as possible but I'm pretty sure we've heard from Bonnie McMillan in White Rock British Columbia before so I'm going to read you Bonnie's letter family staying in touch is dear to my heart tonight, especially during these times when we were all separated. My sister turned 79 last week. We were unable to be together to celebrate her birthday.

But her family did something unique. At least it was unique to me. They organized a Zoom party. My sister and I, she's 79, I'm 76. Neither one of us had any idea what Zoom was, but our kids helped us along to navigate. And yes, we successfully joined in to the party. There we all were last week on Zoom. From California to New York, Arizona, Swan River, Manitoba, Gladstone.

I think that's Manitoba too. Winnipeg, that's definitely Manitoba. White Rock, B.C., Vancouver, and Oshawa. That's quite a span. Quite a span of cities and states and places across North America. It was quite emotional to see all those family faces appear on our screen. And quite exciting that we of the older generation were able to access the party. There we were, ages of siblings 69 to 79,

cousins from 3 to 53. We had the best time ever. I was actually overwhelmed by seeing all the faces of my beloved family members, and I know my sister was as well. Today's technology is absolutely amazing, and even more during times like we are all experiencing. But I have to take my hat off to those of the younger generation who encourage those of us who are older to join in on the fun, embrace new technologies, and enjoy the Zoom of life. Family is forever. Nothing can really separate us. The good time memories last forever. Nothing can really separate us. The good time memories last forever.

I love that letter, Bonnie. It's a great one. And the best thing about it is you know that it's being duplicated in homes across the country and around the world. And technology is incredible. You know, I remember, you know, both my parents passed quite some time ago. But I remember in the final days of my mom's life. And she'd kind of sort of understood the Internet a little bit at that point.

But she didn't realize what almost daily we were being able to do. And my sister and I were over to visit her in the room where she was residing in these kind of final days. And we said to her, you know what, we've got planned today. We've got planned a trip to different parts of the world. And the whole idea was to try and take my mom to the streets where she had lived at different times during her life. So somewhere in England, were in Malaya,

some were in Switzerland, some were in different parts of Canada. My parents lived in Quebec, they lived in Ontario, they lived in Alberta, they lived in British Columbia. And so, you know, we did the Google Earth thing, and were able to take her right down onto the street where she'd grown up in, Liverpool, England, and various other places in her life. She was amazed. Kind of overwhelmed a bit.

So were we. And that was, you know, a dozen years ago. That was technology then that seemed, oh my gosh, I can't believe what we're doing. And here we listen to these stories like Bonnie's story about how families, widespread, could be anywhere in the world, are able to get together through the magic of, in that particular case, Zoom. And as we all know, there are other ways to do this.

But so many of us, myself included, had no idea about Zoom before this pandemic started. Now, as well as all the gut-wrenching sorrow that we've witnessed and are going through. We're also having these kind of opportunities that we didn't know existed, that have given us a window on our lives that we never realized before. So it's pretty special and Bonnie you captured it in your letter and really appreciate it. I promised last night I'd have a, you know, I would talk about the podcast, about the bridge, the bridge daily. It's been 10 weeks.

Today marks 10 weeks that we've been doing the bridge daily. And as I've told you before, it's a hobby, and I look forward to it every day. Some days it's kind of a bit of a stretch trying to find something to talk about, but, you know, you've kind of stuck with me and I kind of listen to the things I babble on about each day, and I've enjoyed that,

and I've enjoyed the interaction back and forth. The question becomes how long are we going to keep doing this? You know, I, it is a hobby. It's a thing I do on my own. I'm, you know, there's no sponsor, as you know, for this podcast, although there have been a number of people who've, and companies who've expressed interest in pod in sponsoring the podcast but i didn't you know i didn't really want to do that right now um i'd rather just sort of do it and so the issue becomes is it still worth doing on a daily basis and i I've got to tell you, I haven't made a decision. I have two minds. I know as the things start to open up,

as the weather starts to open up, you know, there are going to be other things to do with our days. That's kind of on the one hand. On the other hand, and this is the great challenge we all face right now and don't anybody kid yourselves no matter what you're hearing this isn't over this is not over

we may be reopening a few things. We may be able to go to the golf course. We may be able to, in the proper kind of bubble setting, as they say, meet with family and friends who we haven't seen in weeks, in small groups, physically distant, wearing masks if we have to. We may be able to do those things. But that doesn't ignore the fact that the virus is still out there. It's still out there.

And it's still infecting people. And it's still killing people. So that's the argument to keep going because cutting back to once a week or once every two weeks or once a month would seem to indicate that I think that, hey, we're past the problem. We can take it easy now. We can't take it easy. This is still the biggest thing we've ever seen in our lives. We're going to beat it eventually, and there are any number of different outcomes to this in terms of how we end up beating it.

But we will beat it. We haven't beaten it yet. We haven't beaten it yet. We haven't beaten it yet. So that's the debate I have going on in my own head. So at this point, there'll still be a week 11 at least. We'll see where we are in another week. I hope you have a weekend that you can enjoy.

I hope you have a weekend where you're able to reach out and touch family and friends in some fashion. Not physically touch, but touch emotionally. Could be on the phone, could be

on social media, could be on the other side of the park. I hope the weather's good in your area. I hope for those listeners like our friend in Vermont who wrote this week, those listeners who are south of the border,

it's a holiday weekend for you. We went through one last weekend. That's a challenge because you've got to keep reminding yourself. Physical distance. Six feet minimum. Masks when you're outside. You know, there's nothing wrong with wearing a mask. So when you're outside in a situation where the whole issue about distance may be a problem, masks.

Remember, you're wearing a mask to protect others, not to protect yourself. So if you're that person in the grocery store who's not wearing a mask, you don't look like some stud. You look like you're not caring about others. And you should. Absolutely should. Absolutely should. Anyway, you've heard me do this before. I wish you a weekend where you can achieve some enjoyment from it.

If you're going through a difficult time, I send you my prayers and my thoughts. This has been the Bridge Daily's weekend special for Week 10. But we'll be back in 48 hours. Thank you.