The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Remembering John Turner

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

It's always a tough weekend when you lose a "friend".

Short enough for you, a little mini drumroll to get things going here. As we begin week 28 of the Bridge Daily, I'm Peter Mansbridge. Great to have you with us. Why the different music? Well, I'm not in Stratford where the regular music is. I'm not up at the lake where we have the sort of natural sounds of the forest and the cabin and the loons on the lake. I'm in Toronto and I don't have that regular music with me. And I don't have many options. I mean, I could go with, well, what could I go with? I could go with this.

Crowd noise. Or I could go with that. Or I could go with that. Or I could go with this. Funny guy, right? Okay, so we'll get started. And I wanted to actually introduce half a smile anyway for the beginning of this one because it's tough. It's a tough day. We are back into it.

This is week 28, and yet in some ways it feels like it's week one or two. The numbers are not good, almost no matter where you look. They're fine in Atlantic Canada, as we keep saying. I mean, they're better than fine. But after that, Ontario, Quebec, and heading west, the numbers aren't good. So you have Quebec saying today that they're into the second wave. They announced that.

Officially, they're into the second wave. Ontario looking at the highest number it's had in weeks, 425, I think it was the number, of new cases. That's really not good. They've started to backpedal on some of the things. On Saturday, they announced indoor gatherings, social gatherings, no more than 10 people. Alberta and BC, numbers have gone up. In BC, they just called an election for late October.

Now, that's a gamble. You know, it's always a gamble calling an election because you never know what's going to happen over the next four or five weeks, especially if things really head south on COVID. And if they do, does the government of the day get blamed for that? So it'll be interesting to watch how that plays out. You know, one person who will definitely be watching it is Justin Trudeau. This week he has a speech from the throne

and a new session of Parliament starting, and people keep guessing whether or not he's actually thinking early election or if he's thinking election next spring or if the opposition is thinking about pulling the plug on this minority government. Lots of things at play. But the bottom line thing that's at play for all of us is the fact that the pandemic is still very much here with us. And as a result, our lifestyle continues to have to be put under certain restrictions. And we can't forget the basics. You know what they are.

We can't forget them. We have to keep reminding ourselves. And I'm as guilty as anyone. You know, there are times that I just kind of forget. If I'm going out, get that mask on. I forget that I should have it on. It's because we've all been at this so long that either we're going to be absolutely, totally

stringent on it, or we're going to be having to keep reminding ourselves of what the rules of the game are. Washing hands, keeping socially distant, wearing a mask, you know, the run. Anyway, there are not very many things on the horizon, or more than the horizon, in front of us today that would make us feel comfortable. I know I'm not feeling comfortable. I was supposed to go to Calgary this week,

give a speech, which I'm really looking forward to give. I will give that speech, but the odds are now I'm going to be giving it remotely because I'm going to be giving it remotely. Because I'm just not comfortable enough with the idea of, it's not just the plane. It's getting to the plane. It's getting to the airport. It's walking through the airport. It's getting off the plane.

Walking through another airport. Going into a hotel. And on and on and on. So I'm not comfortable with that. But I'm, and nor, as it turns out, are the overwhelming majority of delegates to the convention that I was going, that I am going to speak at one way or another, because most of them are going to stay in their homes in different parts of Alberta and watch it remotely. So they'll be watching me remotely,

and I'll be remotely watching them, or at least talking with them. That's probably the way it's going to work out. But the point of telling you that story is that everybody is suddenly adjusting. Two weeks ago, I was actually quite looking forward to work out. But the point of telling you that story is that everybody is suddenly adjusting. Two weeks ago, I was actually quite looking forward to the trip because I wanted to see what it was going to be like with things numbers down, which they were just a couple of weeks ago. But not anymore. Is this just an aberration? Is this just a little bump in the road?

Let's hope so. But obviously they don't think that in Quebec. They think they're going to be hit by the second wave now. And will that be Ontario's position in the next little while? And if it is, are they going to take further restrictions? Are we going to start walking things back? Are we heading towards another lockdown? And it's just not in Canada. walking things back? Are we heading towards another lockdown?

And it's just not in Canada. I mean, the American story is, it is what it is. But you look across Europe, Western Europe, they're having an increase in numbers. Look in the Middle East, they're having an increase in numbers.

So second wave time appears to be coming towards us. in numbers. So, second wave time appears to be coming towards us. Keep in mind that 100 years ago in the 1819 flu

pandemic, the second wave was far worse than the first wave. Now, it's no guarantee that's the way it will unfold here, but it's something to keep in mind. A lot of time in the overall news agenda was spent

as a result of the death on Friday night of Justice Ginsburg in the United States. And the ensuing political fallout around who will be her replacement and when that replacement is known, how soon will they try to make that official. And that's a big political story, and I'm sure we're going to talk about it in the race next door this week because I think there are a number of elements to that story beyond just who the person will be,

but I think the whole episode of these last few days says something about politics and politicians and the art of the lie, and I don't think anybody escapes this one without being tainted by it, anyone. So I'll try and convince Bruce that that's what we should talk about this Wednesday on the race next door.

But as overwhelming as that story was, it was the death of somebody else that had a greater impact on me. And that was the death on Saturday. Actually, I believe the actual death was on Friday, but it was announced on Saturday, of John Napier Turner, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada,

who was somebody I covered of John Napier Turner, the 17th Prime Minister of Canada, who was somebody I covered before he became Prime Minister, when he became Prime Minister, while he was Prime Minister, and in the days following, as he was Opposition Leader. We got to know each other fairly well through those days. After he got out of politics, we became friends. And while we didn't see each other a lot, we did see each other more than a few times. And we got around to trying to have lunch once or twice a year.

He was 91 when he passed away over the weekend. And to me, he was a remarkable guy. There was somebody who, from his earliest days, was always looked at by others as saying, this guy's going to go places. You know, the world's at his feet. He can get anything he wants. He worked hard. He went through school, he went through college,

he was a Rhodes Scholar, went to Oxford. He was a great athlete. His specialty was the 100-yard dash, as opposed to the 100-meter dash, the 100-yard dash. And he held the Canadian record for a while at 9.8 seconds. So he beat the 10 second barrier on the 100 yard dash, which is not the same as the 100 meter dash. Under 10 seconds on that is really good.

Anyway, he was great at it and would have been on the Canadian Olympic team in 1948, but he got injured and couldn't go. He got his law degree, could have made a bundle as a lawyer, but decided he wanted to go into politics and ran and was successful running. I think first in a Quebec riding, then an Ontario riding, then a BC riding over the career, his political career. But in his early 30s, he was one of the youngest members of Parliament. For Lester Pearson, the Liberal Prime Minister in the early 1960s.

1963 was when he won election, Prime Minister Pearson. And John Turner was one of his caucus members. Eventually he went into cabinet and then ran for the leadership in 1968, losing to Pierre Trudeau. But Pierre Trudeau said, I need you in my cabinet, and gave him a really top job, Minister of Justice. He was responsible for the Official Languages Act. He oversaw the War Measures Act. He then became Finance Minister after the 72 election. Having to deal with

difficult times, oil price crunch, and inflation starting to move up. There were a number of things going on. He left politics in the mid-1970s. He didn't say why. He just said he needed to get out for a while. But really what was at issue was the fact that the Liberals in 1975, when he was still finance minister, introduced wage and price controls, which a year previous they had campaigned against with Robert Stanfield.

And Turner said, I don't want any part of this. And that's why he left. And he was in the kind of political wilderness for 10 years, but was always seen as the prince in waiting, the guy who would eventually be prime minister when Pierre Trudeau stepped down. And sure enough, that's what happened in 1984. But that wilderness time did not work for him.

He was out of touch with the politics of the day in the 1980s. Things had changed since he'd left. And he had a disastrous campaign against Brian Mulroney in 84, and he lost. And the Liberals were ground into, almost disappeared. They ended up with about 40 seats, which for the Liberals, the so-called governing party of Canada, this was an incredible disaster. And the voices of anti-Turnerism, for the first time in his life,

started around that election. But he fought to carry on, and he ended up running in 88, had a terrible first half of the campaign his own party tried to dump him they went to him and said look you got to step down in the middle of the campaign because it looked like they were only going to end up with a dozen or 15 seats but he said no he told them to where they could stick their idea and he ran again and and took free trade as his passion,

had a great debate against Brian Mulroney, or accused Mulroney of selling out the country. And he did extremely well. I think he could have done better if he'd had a second issue for the second half of that campaign as well as free trade. And there was one just sitting there. The GST was due to be introduced to the Canadian people a couple of months later, but nobody talked about it in that campaign. And if they had of, and explained to people what it was going to cost them, it could have been a great

issue for him. Anyway, he doubled the seats. They went from 40 to 80, roughly. But still, people wanted him out, and within a couple of years, he was gone. After he was gone was when we kind of became friends, talked a fair amount about life, about politics, about he was never bitter.

He had every reason to be bitter, but he was never bitter. He cared about politics. He cared about Parliament. He had every reason to be bitter, but he was never bitter. He cared about politics. He cared about Parliament. He cared about his fellow parliamentarians. He believed that young people needed to seriously consider some public service in their life. Because if you believe in democracy, John Turner would say, you have to appreciate that it doesn't happen automatically.

It needs participation. And any way you can involve yourself in participating in the democracy that we cherish is something you should do. So, when I heard the news that, I mean, he was 91, and I knew he wasn't well. The last couple of years have been difficult for him. But he had all his, as they say, faculties and facilities. And he could tell great stories. His memory was sharp.

Last time I saw him was late last year. And we probably would have been having lunch this spring, this past spring, but then COVID got in the way, and that must have really hurt, because John Turner loved the ability to talk with people. And having to be basically a shut-in at that age for the last six, eight months of his life must have been really, truly difficult.

Anyway, while a lot of people tend to focus on John Turner as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada, who was only in the job for a couple of months and kind of screwed up in that time and never got back to being Prime Minister, that's unfair. Because he was not an insignificant figure on the Canadian political landscape. He was a significant figure.

Held important portfolios in cabinet, was incredibly loyal to his party and to those he worked with and those who he worked against. This was a guy who in the early 1960s, as a young guy, was with his wife in Barbados on the beach when he saw somebody struggling in the water. And he said, Joe, I've got to go help that guy.

Off he went, into the water, swam up. It was John Diefenbaker. And John Turner said, Mr. Diefenbaker, I've got you. I'll get you ashore. Got him ashore. And I read this somewhere, and I asked him at lunch a couple of years ago,

I said, did that really happen? He said, oh, yeah, absolutely it happened. And he was in serious trouble, Mr. Dieffenbaker, as he called him. And I said, did you talk about it afterwards? Did you talk about it in the years that followed before Mr. Dieffenbaker passed away? He said, no. It never came up. We never talked about it. He never brought it up.

I never brought it up. I said, why do you think that is? He said, well, it's kind of the respect for parliamentarians have for each other or should have for each other. He said, I'm sure he was somewhat embarrassed by that whole episode, and we just didn't talk about it.

Not something, right? Anyway, I will miss John Turner, who served his country incredibly well in good times and in difficult times. And it was nice to hear so many of his political friends and foes saying nice things as often happens when somebody passes away, a titan of the business. Brian Mulroney was

incredibly gracious in the things he said about John Turner over the weekend. And those two really went at it in two of the greatest political debates I've ever seen, certainly in this country. That was terrific theater, political theater. And the one last thing I'll say about John Turner, as my mother used to say,

John Turner was the most attractive person I've ever seen. He was a pretty good-looking guy. You look at those pictures of him throughout his career. But he had a relationship of some kind with Princess Margaret, the Queen's younger sister. And there was a lot of ink spread in both Canada and the UK. At the time, they were dancing together. This would be late 50s.

And they remained friends. And when Princess Margaret died, I can't remember what year it was about 20 years ago when Princess Margaret died the royal family asked John Turner if he would be part of those who were giving eulogies to Princess Margaret.

And he did. To his friend. So, just a couple of thoughts that I wanted to share with you. Now, a couple of stories. I guess it was about two weeks ago we talked about the difficulties that were becoming inherent about the vaccine. You know the vaccine, the one that the President of the United States has, I don't know, what's his latest prediction?

It'll be ready on the weekend? He kind of stretches it and changes it. He said as early as October, as late as April. He's now starting to push the April line after saying October or November. But as we mentioned when we talked about the vaccine some time ago, one of the biggest difficulties is going to be moving it around. Because of the lead candidates for the successful campaign, storage of this vaccine is going to be extremely difficult because it has to be very, very cold. Deep Arctic

cold. As low as minus 80 degrees Celsius. From the moment it's bottled to the time it's ready to be injected into a patient's arm. So think about that. How are they going to keep this cold? Millions and millions, hundreds and millions of doses, billions of doses to supply the world.

So the New York Times has caught up to this story too, and on the weekend, David Gellis wrote about this problem of keeping things cold. That will not be easy. Vaccines may be manufactured on one continent and shipped to another. They will go from logistics hub to logistics hub before ending up at the hospitals and other facilities that will administer them. While no vaccine has yet been approved by health officials in the United States, preparations for a mass vaccination campaign are gearing up. The U.S. military and a federal contractor are expected to play a role in coordinating the distribution, but a hodgepodge of companies are scrambling to figure out how to keep hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine very, very cold.

Planes, trucks, and warehouses will need to be outfitted with freezers. Glass vials will need to withstand icy climes. Someone will need to make a lot more dry ice. So that's just one aspect of this story, but keep this in mind too. Your seasonal flu, right, it has to be cared for as it gets ready. But your seasonal flu you can often get at your local pharmacy, right, or your local doctor's office. Not sure that's going to happen.

Not sure they're going to be having the kind of facilities that are going to be needed to keep this stuff at those incredibly low temperatures. Your doctor's office going to install huge new, very sophisticated new refrigerators, freezers, pharmacies? Are they going to do that? Do they have a space for that? So if they don't, that leads to these issues that are going to be central points, like the highly successful testing areas.

Is that what we're going to see? We're going to see huge lineups of cars for blocks and blocks and blocks of people waiting to get the vaccine? Could be. Long way to go on figuring all that out. There's your vaccine story for today. Now here's your last catch-up story. I don't know, it was a month ago, we talked about sports and the business of sports and how much money was involved in getting the professional sports franchises up and running. Basketball, football, hockey, baseball. Millions, hundreds of millions of dollars at stake because of television contracts. Well, you've actually got to hand it to the major professional sports leagues

because most of them have handled this extremely well. In hockey, I believe not a single case of COVID-19 by any of the players through these bubbles they've set up. Same with basketball. I think there have been a couple in the NFL, and as we know, there have been a few in baseball. But they all seem to have that under control now. So where am I going with this?

Well, listen to these kind of numbers. You ever heard of the Indian Premier League? This is not football, or as we call it, soccer. The IPL is not football. It's cricket, all right? And I, listen, I love cricket. I grew up, my first memories of sports are watching cricket, watching my dad play for one of the state teams in Malaya.

We lived there in the early 1950s before it became Malaysia. And we lived in Kuala Lumpur. I used to watch my dad play. He was a great bowler, you know, like a pitcher. And in my various times, back to England mainly, and when I filled in there for the correspondent in London in the 80s, I used to watch a lot of cricket. Anyway, why am I telling you this? Well, the Indian Premier League,

India is suffering big time from COVID-19, as most countries are in some fashion. But after months of uncertainty, because this is a huge tournament, I'll tell you why in some fashion. But after months of uncertainty, because this is a huge tournament, I'll tell you why in a minute, but after months of uncertainty, the Indian Premier League will play, not in India,

but they'll play in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE. First game was yesterday in Abu Dhabi, followed by other games that are going to take place in Dubai and Sharjah. This brings relief to cricket fans, the board of control for cricket in India called the BCCI, team owners, broadcasters, and sponsors. Because we're talking big money for all of them, right?

How big, you say? The total value of the tournaments, the Indian Premier League, last year was estimated at $5.9 billion. And that's U.S. So, you know, $142 billion Canadian. No, $5.9 billion U.S. If the 2020 tournament had not taken place, it was estimated that the BBCI could lose around U.S. $680 million in revenue.

So that's about a billion dollars, Canadian. For cricket, LBW. You know what that is, you cricket fans out there. That was an LBW. It was a leg before wicket. You're out, man. Anyway, the race is on.

And they're trying to do the same thing, to have a secure bubble for all the different players. By early this month, the virus had breached a cricket biosecure bubble and infected 14 personnel, including players, sports staff, one medical commission member. Most of those infected belonged to Chennai Super Kings. That's one of the franchises. The infection of cricketers with the virus was not enough for the BCCI

and the Indian government to cancel the tournament. This former cricketer turned BJP politician Gautam Gambir said, just because of one person the tournament can't be sacrificed. I seem to recall that being said in baseball as well here. Gambir's statement and the BCCI's mentality that the show will go on despite opposition in some quarters. There's resolute loyalty to a financial agenda. Remember what we said about sports?

How much money was involved? And how important was it to carry on and to come up with a way that was as safe as possible. Well, that's what they're trying to do by moving the games from India to the United Arab Emirates because there's six billion dollars US at stake

by keeping things going. The power of sport. All right. That launches us into week 28 of The Place Next Door. The Place Next Door. It launches us into week 28 of The Place Next Door. The Place Next Door. It launches us into week 28 of The Bridge Daily.

The Race Next Door comes your way in, well, 48 hours on Wednesday. And I'll talk to Bruce. We'll get organized, figure out what we're going to talk about this week. I think it'll be about the Supreme Court issue, but we'll see. Hope you've taken some, I don't know, what would I call it, happiness, some knowledge, some interest in the things we talked about today. I'm Peter Mansbridge. This has been The Bridge Daily.

Now get ready for it. Here's the out music, and when you hear it, you'll know that we'll be back in 24 hours.