The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - SMT -- The G7 As Trump Leaves Early

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Trump steals the headlines as he skips out early to deal with the Middle East crisis from home. Does that matter?

Smoke, mirrors and the truth. Fred Delorey, Bruce Anderson coming right up. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here, along with Bruce Anderson and Fred Delorey. You know, just before we started, Bruce said that he wanted he and Fred to be called like executive producers and senior producers and all that because you know they know those positions are vacant here at the bridge. So they want to not only be called that but they want to be reimbursed for that knowledge. Yeah in keeping with the extremely generous pay package that the Man's Corp provides to

talent, I thought that at least a title bump would be okay. But it's good to see you guys again. I've just been growing my wild Scottish hair over here for another couple of weeks and then I'm back to have it tamed back in Ottawa. Miss you guys. Look forward to talking about politics today. Okay, well, let's get started then, because as soon as the conversation drifts to hair,

I'm really not interested in having that conversation, but I would- I'm getting Kelly Savalas energy today, I like it. Do you think any of our viewers, listeners know who Kelly Sav's analysis is? Well, yours. Yeah, I think that yours. Fred has a younger demo.

They won't know what that is. Okay. Topic one, the G7. World leaders who belong to the G7 love these summits because you know listen they obviously at some point during the summit discuss real events but the rest of the time it's like a big photo op and it always looks good it's always in some spectacular spot some spectacular location so it's good to be at it it's good to be the host of it you get a lot of attention it's especially good to be the host if it's your first go at this thing and

you've only been in the office for, you know, a matter of weeks. So for Mark Carney, all the ducks were in a row for him, except then one of the ducks left in the first day. So I, there's my question, I guess, the, does it really matter that Donald Trump, you know, There's my question, I guess. Does it really matter that Donald Trump pulled out after literally just a matter of hours, not even a 24-hour cycle, before he left? I mean, he said he had pressing events in Washington to deal with the Israeli-Iranian situation. Does it matter?

Does it take anything off the G7 and the impact of it for Carney? Fred, why don't you start? Well, it's interesting. The G7, I'm not entirely sure the purpose of it or what they usually accomplish with these things. But in the Canadian context, it's a big deal because it shows that we're at the big kids table, which isn't always the case. So in this, you know, for this particular one, with Trump being such a negative presence in Canada in our politics, when he left at first, it was very strange. Like you're, when you're the president of the United States, you're basically traveling with the White House. You have all of these staff with you.

You can pretty well do anything anywhere in the world, particularly with Air Force One, a traveling White House. So the fact that he had to go back was strange, but politically maybe it's helpful to Carney that the crazy orange man is gone and he still gets to be in lots of photos and lots of meetings with the biggest world leaders without the distraction necessarily of Trump.

Now we're still watching Trump. We're obviously very closely watching what's going on in the Middle East, which is a huge distraction this week. But, you know, maybe, you know, this could be a positive for Cardi, and that he gets to look like a world leader hosting other world leaders who Canadians may have more affection for than they do the president. Bruce? affection for than they do the president. Bruce?

Yeah, look, I think that there have been years when more people would have wondered what the value is of world leaders getting together. But that's not this year, as far as I'm concerned. I think that we live in a time where I would say for better, for worse, but it's mostly for worse, we need to see leaders get together to try to work out economic differences, security arrangements, talk about things that are putting people at risk, either economically or from a war standpoint. I don't know that the value proposition for a politician really lies in the photos. I think there's an awful

lot of stress that comes with trying to put these things together in a way that doesn't have an accident or an incident or a mishap or a bad photo or somebody overheard something on a hot mic. So there's a lot of risk management, I think, that goes into these things rather than opportunity seeking. But I do think that the quiet, the bilaterals, the stuff that happens away from the cameras does matter, not because people spend necessarily hours and hours kind of grinding on the details, but because the fact of the that they're getting together means that a lot of energy behind the scenes goes into preparing for a constructive or as constructive a conversation as it's possible to have. And so that for Canada,

we needed to have a round two conversation between our prime minister and the president of the United States. And the signals coming out of yesterday, I think were at least helpful in decoding where we're at in terms of that relationship. I think the president put it fairly simply that he's a tariff guy and he likes a tariff approach to a trade relationship, but he also heard a different idea from Mark Carney. And that he thought that there was some merit in that and that I guess there was a 30-day timetable put on an effort to resolve the major points of difference. So I guess there was a 30-day timetable put on an effort to resolve the major points of difference. So I think there was a lot of value in it. And because I believe that, to your basic

question, Peter, it doesn't matter to me that he left. Probably on balance, if it reduced the risk of him going down that road of why was Putin not here? Why did Trudeau kick him out, which Trudeau had nothing to do with, you know, those things are very distracting and the media can't help themselves from making those become the bigger story about this when the reality is the bigger story is what's going on behind the scenes probably. It is amazing that he tried to blame Putin leaving the G8, which it was at the time to try to blame Trudeau when it was Harper and Obama, right, who were kind of in charge in those days. The 30-day thing in terms of we got, you know, within 30 days,

we could very well have a new deal, an economic and security deal between Canada and the United States. What did you make of that, Fred? Because we've had so many, well, not deadlines, but dates, and this will be resolved by next week, or such and such is gonna happen by such and such a date. What did you make of this latest one, the 30 day?

Look, it's a big one to have all of these issues resolved in 30 days. It shows they've obviously been working towards this and maybe they're closer than we think on some fronts or maybe they're very far apart too. I'm not sure who came up with the 30 days or how strategic it was or how realistic it is, but it is expectation setting and it's good to have that number now that we can hold these people

to this. And it's another thing with Prime Minister Kearney, the expectations are very high that he delivers a lot for Canadians all over the board, his own domestic legislation and then dealing with foreign entities like the United States. So to have an actual deadline now, I think really helps hyper-focus this whole situation and he's going to have to meet it. It'll be, you know, obviously he's still in that honeymoon period, but if he fails to accomplish these things, that will start to be little chinks in his armor, potentially. Um, if teams keep, keep getting delayed at the same time, of course you're dealing with Donald Trump,

who was the guy who signed the last trade deal with Canada, who's now saying it was a terrible deal and it was a great deal. Now it's a terrible deal and they're getting ripped off. So like, Prime Mr. Carney is dealing with a very difficult person to deal with who doesn't even agree with the own deals he signs. Some of this stuff comes down to optics in terms of the way the, you know, the public looks at these meetings. Well, obviously we're not inside the room for some of these sessions where it's just leaders and their top officials. But from what we've seen so far in terms of the optics of it all, I mean, he is just recently arrived on the stage, on that stage, Carney. How comfortable

does he look when you're watching him in this venue? Bruce? when you're watching him in this venue. Bruce? Well, can I just, before I answer that, I want to go back to just say I 100% agree with the second part of what Fred just said. I did probably 0% agree with the first part. Let me clarify what I mean by that. I don't see really high expectations in the public opinion for Carney. I see a high level of confidence that he's got the skills and he's got a good attitude. But to Fred's point, there's only so much that people would logically expect that you can do with a character like Donald Trump on the other side of the negotiating table. And that's why I think Fred's second point was really very apt and he kind of conditioned his first assault on the expectations question. Something wrong with

expectations. I'm sorry, we expect a lot from this guy. His resume is outstanding. But I don't think that people expect that it's going to be resolved in 30 days. So you may be right that there are high expectations among some people. But what I'm sensing in the numbers is people are going to understand that this is going to play itself out over a period of maybe longer. And and what's more important to them than speed is getting it right. And that includes being a bit forceful when when that's called for. And what's more important to them than speed is getting it right. And that includes being a bit forceful when that's called for and to get into negotiation

mode when that's called for. So on the optics question, Peter, you know, my sense of Kearney on the world stage is that it is something that he's accustomed to. It's something that he's been around for a good portion of his professional life. As governor to central banks and as a senior official in the finance department, he's traveled the world. He's met most, if not all, of these world leaders before he was Prime Minister.

So there are things about politics which are new to him and skills that he needs to acquire. But his ability to run a meeting, to speak both off the cuff and to deliver prepared remarks in a setting like that, I think is pretty good. Um, and I, you know, I mean, we're all pay attention to, you know, the softer aspect of optics. He strikes me as somebody who has a lot of energy and looks like he's showing up for work and, um, and kind of bringing a positive attitude and trying to bring people together. And I think people read those cues and react well to them so far. The.

Okay. Let me just say this on the expectations because I'm probably closer to Fred than I am to you, Bruce. Although I agree, I don't think anybody expects anything in a month. But I was just in Alberta last week and expectations are running real high there on the part of a lot of people, not just industry, energy industry, the politicians, the people, the things are going to change in terms of their situation based on what they've heard from Mark Carney. Yes, I agree with that. I was just talking in the context of the tariff war. Of the G7, yeah, okay.

Yeah. Although some of the tariff stuff floats over into the energy sector. I mean, even Danielle Smith's prepared to give him four to six months. So four times longer than Fred was gonna give him in the month. Anyway, but I think there's the degree of expectation,

and I don't think this will come as any shock to Mark Carney, that he's created an expectation out there and he has to deliver even, he talks about that, right? No, no, no. Look, in our survey, I'm writing a piece that I'll publish today. I mean, he's got a 51% approval rating in Alberta. So you can look at that and say,

well, that's expectations. True because it's very early days, but it's also a measure of confidence in the, in the way that he's approaching the conversation with Alberta and the topics that matter a lot to Alberta. So I think we're just like kind of talking about whether people are, are poised to be disappointed or inclined to be optimistic and I'm reading these numbers as inclined to be optimistic at this point rather than their patience is so thin that they're moments away from saying hell with it you know we thought we could trust them and now we can't I don't think that's

the mood as I see it including in Alberta to be honest. Fred do you want to I think expectations are high and I think it's the mood as I see it, including in Alberta, to be honest. Fred, do you wanna- I think expectations are high and I think it's a positive. It's not a bad thing to have high expectations of our leaders and hoping that they achieve what they said they're gonna achieve. And it's been a decade of darkness for productivity in this country.

So people are definitely expecting big things and all of his language and everything he's talking about is aligned with that. But if he fails, if in a year's time we're not seeing it, if it's the same old, just lots of announcements, nothing getting built, then things are going to collapse. Okay. Let's move the topic to the situation that your party, Fred, is finding itself in now as they've called for a convention with a leadership review for next January, which is obviously a particular interest to Pierre Poliev as it just adds to the things that he's facing in the short term. He starts

this day with yet another poll coming out of from this time from Nanos. Sounds similar in some ways to what was Bruce was talking about. I mean, he's got half the preferability as prime minister that Mark Carney has. It's like 49 to 24 or something like that. But in terms of party ranking, it's what 11 or 12 points separating the liberals and the conservatives now. I mean, that's a big number. Of course, there's no election right now, but so it only means whatever you choose to think that it means at this point. But tell me about this January situation, Fred, because I think you were actually predicted it would end up in January.

Is that good or bad for Poliev? Oh, I think it's good for Poliev. January in Calgary, it's not the most exciting month for people, particularly from Atlantic Canada and Quebec to travel out there for a convention. And that's where he was weakest in terms of this last election. So this is a leadership review that's going to be the top issue at the convention. There's other policy and constitutional stuff that always happens at our party but leadership review is a big is going to be the hot topic and he's gonna want not just to win but win with a big number.

You know, 66 isn't good enough as as Joe Clark told us. I suspect he will get the big number, but January Calgary, that's obviously a strategic month that they chose to do that. At the same time, it is hard to organise these things. I've done three national conventions for the party. It does take time to find the venue and to be able to get the folks there. We have to delegate selection meetings. Every writing sends 10 to 12 delegates based on, they can have 10 plus president plus candidate of record. So there's a lot of organization for that as well

that has to happen. But there's no doubt that this is a bit of strategy in terms of making you know, making it a bit more difficult for some people to get there that may be inclined to come that don't support him. And just to underline this issue about coming to the convention, you have to be there to vote. You can't vote electronically in different parts of the country.

Okay. Well, that's it. You have to be there. There's no proxy voting. There's no virtual voting. You have to be in the room. What do you make of it, Bruce? Yeah, well, I think Fred's probably right that this is the timing and the place and everything's

probably to Polio's advantage. I don't know at this point whether or not, I didn't feel this way on election night. I don't know whether it's a good idea for the conservatives to keep him as leader. And so it may be to the conservative party's disadvantage to find themselves in a situation where they're forced to go into the next election with Pierre Poliev. And here's why I say that. You know, I think the conservative party was very competitive, obviously, in this election, almost won the election, was ahead by 25 points before. And the only thing that changed really was Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau, and then people compared Mark Carney to Pierre Pauliap. And our current data has 67% saying they have a positive view about Mark Carney, only 51% saying that

about Pierre Poliev. Now, Pierre Poliev, you know, Mark Carney is new to politics, so his number can go down. Pierre Poliev has been around in politics, but he hasn't had to decide any of the things that normally cost you popularity. He's been opposition leader who's become unpopular as opposition leader. And that's a, it should be a warning sign for a party, especially if they're looking at an opponent who is not Justin Trudeau, but he's much more popular than Justin Trudeau. I look at a couple of little breakouts. Remember how everybody in the run-up to the last election

was saying that one of the miracles for Pierre Poliev is how he's established this lead among young people among young voters over the liberals, very sizable and a breakthrough relative to what we historically have seen as young people more inclined to vote for the progressive parties. But right now, among 18 to 29 year olds, Carney is 10 points more popular than Pierre Poliev. We also saw that Poliev was more popular among men. Now, right now, Carney is 15 points more popular among men.

So the advantages that Pierre Poliev as an individual looked like he brought to the conservative party right through December have evaporated and even worse than evaporated. They've turned into disadvantages. So the challenge for the party will be, yeah, they'll probably pick him or renew his license on the job in January. But what are they going to do to make him more popular? Is it just the hope that Mark Carney becomes less popular? Because that might or might not happen. It seems to me that the current level of popularity of Pierre Paulien is a significant challenge for him as a leader, maybe not in this leadership review, but certainly for the competitiveness

of the party going forward. What's happening? Do you agree with that? I would agree with much of that. Yes. I think he, I think Poliev is only shot. Let me say this. He's going to win this leadership review. I'd say by a huge number, he's going to lead the party into the next election. Um, unless the really bottoms out in the polls and caucus gets antsy, but I don't see any sign of that in terms of caucus or the membership. But he needs to reinvent himself somehow. He can't be the Poliev he's been for the last

two years, but the problem is it was so successful, it drove Trudeau out. They raised record numbers of fundraising dollars. They had the biggest lead, the Conservative Party at any level has ever had, sorry, at the federal level. I don't know if you can teach this dog new tricks. I don't know if you can adapt like John Diefenbaker or Brian Maruni, Steven Harper, Jean Chrétien, they all lost big races and took it hard and figured it out how to do better. I'm not sure. He's working on the phones,

he's calling a lot of people. There's the Hill Times report this week that it looks like some caucus members said it looks like he's running his own post-mortem, which I can see he should be a part of it. He should be making a lot of those calls, but to actually see what worked and what didn't, I think you need someone else to be assessing

his performance as well and giving him that true response and how things went. So I think there's a lot of risk here for the party to keep him. But at the end of the day, that's going to be it. He's got to figure out what he's doing and who he is. Do you think on those calls he's having according to the Hill Times with the various caucus members and members who ran in the election didn't win necessarily do you think he's getting the truth because it's not part of the leader who's that high up in the polls at one point a lot of these candidates if you want to run again, you want to be, you want to show you support the leader. And it's easy to just fall in line

and say, no, you did great. This was just bad timing. And if we go in with that mentality, if we go into that, well, let's just keep doing who we let's keep acting how we've acted. Let's keep the same tone. And we're just heading for another loss. It's a rare political leader who would enjoy the prospect of calling 25 people and having 23 of them say, yeah, you're a good butt. And then going on to fill in that space, right? I think that typically leaders develop a small, small group of people from whom they wish to hear the truth. And, um, and, and, and, and it sounds like I'm being critical of them in saying this,

but that I'm not really, because to be in that job, uh, yeah, you have to have a thick skin, but part of it means not subjecting yourself to situations where people are going to constantly be poking at your self-confidence. You need self-confidence in those roles. You need a system where people are telling you the most important things that you need to know, but not the 75 swing tips that they might want to put in your head because everybody has a different way of thinking about how they would do it.

Too much of that just becomes an annoyance. It becomes destructive to the confidence that the leader has and it becomes just a syndrome that takes people nowhere. So I salute him for making these calls. I think your question is apt, Peter, because I doubt very much that most of the people that he's calling are going to say, I'm glad you called because I've had a list of 15 things that I think you suck at. I don't think that happens. And I'm not sure it ever will.

Well, it does make you wonder whether it's Pierre Pauliev or anybody, whether Leopard can change his spots. He has been a certain kind of politician basically all his life and certainly for the last 10 years. How he can snap like that and change and be a different kind of politician, be, you know, a different kind of politician, a more agreeable, more pleasant, more not apple in your mouth kind of guy. Can he change from what you know of him, Fred? Can he change? No, no. But what's interesting, like I think the way they'll look at it too, is they get over 8 million votes, over 42%.

They added 40 new MPs. In many ways, they're only 20 some seats away from the Liberals in the standings. So it's not like this was, they were firmly rejected. They had a lot going against them. They had the whole Trump equation. So, and I think that's a part of the thing going through their head, is that maybe he doesn't need to change. I believe he does. Let's be clear. I agree with Bruce a lot what he said. I do think he needs to, we need to understand that yes, we got over 42%, but the liberals also did for the first time because a lot of NDP vote went to stop Poliev. That's not going to change in the next election if this is the same approach we have going into it. have. That's not going to change in the next election if this is the same approach we have going into it. Just on the calls though, I'll just quickly just say on the calls, the call he's making to get this, you know, he is maybe getting negative feedback to these people he's calling,

these defeated candidates, but these are people that are going to be delegates at the convention, bringing their 10 delegates with them potentially from the ridings. So this is also just gearing up and solidifying support of the membership so that he can stay on. Yeah, I think it's good work and it's important work for him to do given what he's trying to do. No question about it. Yeah, look, I think the question of, you know, the illusion that a party can have is the big risk here because can he change? Does he need to change? Is the central question. And if you just look at the data of the 8 million votes, you can say, well, 6 million of those really like him the way that he is. But that 8 million wasn't enough. And 2 million of them are saying, I don't, I like the other guy a little bit better right

now. And 70% of NDP voters like Mark Carney, 67% of VQ voters like Mark Carney, Paul Dieppe is 36 points behind Carney in Quebec. So those are real challenges. And it's kind of like, it's not a glass half full, half empty. It's the glass can look two thirds or three quarters full, but it might not be enough. And so the question of do you need to change in order to get past that finish line successfully, to me rests on, well, I have the number of votes that you got the last time isn't enough and the other guy is beating you from a popularity standpoint, then yeah, you do

need to figure out what it is that's going to make you more competitive on an individual basis, because yeah, policies matter a lot. But the policies that Mark Carney is putting on the table, and Fred has mentioned this several times with a sense of chagrin, that's my 50 cent word for the day. There are policies that a lot of conservative voters will look at it and say, yeah, yeah, they want to see his deficit numbers, they want to see the fiscal picture, but so far he's not making them think that they got the worst kind of liberal government. He's making them think they got maybe the best kind. Yeah, I would agree with that.

He's running as a progressive conservative prime minister, as I've said before, and I'll keep saying it until he doesn't. That's why I did hear a number of times in Alberta last week, you know, hadn't realized we'd elected a conservative prime minister based on some of the things that Carney has done so far. Let me just ask one last quick question to you, Bruce. Somebody who's been doing data collection for whatever, the last 30, 40 years, looking at polling data, looking at research, because it's, you know,

what, less than two months since the election, is it too early to be making any judgments about what needs to be done or how, you know, how people should change or not change? Is it too soon? You mean about how the government's doing or about the... It doesn't matter, either one. Well, I do think that it is too early to decide how people are really reacting to the government. They're basically saying two thirds on all 20 items that we measured said good or acceptable,

only one third said poor. That's a pretty low number given that 64% didn't vote or more than that, 66% didn't vote for them. On the question of where Pierre-Paul Liev is, I don't think it's too soon to have the conversation that we're having right now. I think it might be a little bit soon to figure out what the actual solution is that fits with who he is and what he can do relative to who Mark Carney will. Mark Carney's image with Canadians will evolve. It won't be exactly six months from now what it is today. I don't know whether it'll get better. I don't know whether it'll get worse.

I don't know how it'll change, but it won't be exactly the same. And so to some degree that the black box of who Pierre Poliev needs to be in order to be more competitive is a little bit of a work to be done over a period of time. But the fact that that work needs to be done is not too early, I think, to call. Okay. We're going to leave it at that. And I think for your first show as co-executive producers, you've done a heck of a job. Big success, right? Big success. Yeah, we've got things in order.

So we'll take the next two months off now as a result of that. It's our big decision. We're heading into the summer break. I might get a haircut. You're going to let yours grow back out. That's right. I mean, waiting for that for a while. That's going to remain well-walled and appealing to that younger demographic.

Listen, we'll all get back together somehow and somewhere in the fall. It's been great to talk to you guys on Smoke Mirrors of the Truth. We'll see where we end up over the next few months. Take care and have a great summer. Cheers, Bye. And welcome back. You're listening to the bridge right here on SiriusXM

channel 167 Canada talks. We're on your favorite podcast platform. Glad to have you with us. Wherever you're listening from. A couple of reminders. First of all, your turn for this week. The first one is going to be a little bit of a long one. I'm going to be talking about the podcast.

I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast.

I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. I'm going to be talking about the podcast. wherever you're listening from. Couple of reminders, first of all, your turn for this week. Thursday's question of the week, what are your summer plans? We've had all the heavy stuff for the last couple of months. And so we're on this, our last week before the summer break, we're asking that pretty straightforward question.

Now not everybody gets to have summer holidays. I know that. Some of you can't because you can't get away from work. Some of you can't because you figure you can't afford it. But summer plans don't have to be exorbitant right? They are just, they're a break. Whether you traveled some exotic place, whether you traveled by car or bus or train or plane, all these things are decisions that individuals and families make. But we're looking at, we're looking at your summer. So be blunt, tell me what you're, what you're planning.

What is your summer plan? Do you have a summer plan? Or is your summer plan nothing? It's been an interesting year and some people are looking forward to the summer in a way they haven't in years. So give us your sense of your summer. What's your plan? What's your family doing?

Where are you going? We've already had a lot of letters come in already, but there's room for more. So don't be shy. Send them along. Here's the deal. Send them to themandsbridgepodcast.gmail.com. The Man's Bridge Podcast.gmail.com. themandsbridgepodcast.gmail.com. You should have your letter in, your email in,

by noon Eastern time tomorrow. That's cut off. After that, it's too late. Noon Eastern time tomorrow. 75 words or less, and we're hard on that. As you have found out, and it's paid off. Quite frankly, many of you add a line, add a PS. Thanks for the 75 word limit.

It makes you focus the mind. Include your name and the location you're writing from. Okay. So those are your basic conditions. I look forward to reading your entry to What's Your Summer Plan? We've got an end bit for you. End bits are always popular. A number of times over the last couple of years, we've talked about the sleep factor. How do you ensure a better sleep? And so we've tried a number of different things, a number of different theories.

We see them every once in a while. You see them and we share them. Some of them work, some of them work for a while and then they don't work anymore. Some of them don't work at all As it got we got a new one today and it's it's thanks to CBS News And their their morning program They have a health commentator and every once in a while they try different things. So here's the here's the idea Now don't confuse this with exercise. It could be confused with exercise, but the idea here is not to confuse it with

exercise. So CBS writes this, taking a moment to slow down your body and quiet your mind through stretching can be a beneficial step to add to your bedtime routine. Movement experts say. How'd you like that? What do you do? I'm a movement expert. Well, I suppose I could mean any number of things, but the movements they're talking about here are movements you make with your body. Okay?

So here's what one of the experts says, throughout the day we accumulate tension, whether from physical activity, in other words, exercise, you can accumulate tension through exercise, prolonged sitting, which many of us do, right, in our jobs, or mental stress, which many of us get from our jobs, from our families, from our relationships, any number of things. Taking a few minutes to stretch before bed offers a simple way to release that buildup, easing both body and mind into a restful state. Okay, that's what the experts say. While stretching can benefit physical well-being by keeping muscles flexible and healthy,

it can also support mental health, according to the research. Studies have also shown stretching can help patients dealing with chronic insomnia. And that's where we're getting at here. And it's not just chronic insomnia. It's like, do you have trouble sleeping? You know, of the last couple of weeks, I've been back and forth closer to the Atlantic. So I'm kind of time zone. I'm not sure which time zone I'm in anymore and that is obviously affects sleep patterns. So I'm gonna try some of this to see whether it helps over the next few nights. Stretching. Now listen there are lots of different ways to stretch. So what we

have here are six stretching exercises to help you fall asleep. One it's called the forward fold. Whether standing with wide legs or sitting with your legs out in front of you, fold forward at your hips creating a stretch. Okay it's a simple. Let's just fold forward. You can feel that stretch. Oftentimes, say the experts, any pose that incorporates or stretch that incorporates folding forwards can be really soothing for the system. Okay that's one. Two. Seated ankle cross. That's what it's one. Two, seated ankle cross. That's what it's called. While sitting on a bed, on our chair or a couch, place one ankle on the opposite leg

as high as available. Okay, so you got to lift one leg up, put it on top of the other leg at the knee with your ankle, right? And then lean forward with a long spine to move the chest as close to the top leg as comfortable. Now that sounds like, Oh my God, this is going to hurt. No, it actually doesn't. We're not kind of worried about how this impacts you beyond just getting used to the right

positioning, right? Hold for three depths, deep breaths, then switch legs and repeat as desired on the opposite side. So just in case you puzzle by that, while sitting on a bad chair or couch, place one ankle on the opposite leg as high as available. Then lean forward with a long spine to move the chest as close to the top leg as is comfortable. Hold for three deep breaths, then switch legs. Got it? Here's number three, chest opener. Sit tall and place your hands behind you on the bed or couch, fingers pointing away from you.

Okay? So sitting up, place your hands behind you on the bed or couch, fingers pointing away from you. Let your head relax back, opening your chest in front of your neck. See, I'm doing and front of your neck. I'm doing it here as I talk. To increase the stretch, you can finger walk your hands further back or roll your head slightly side to side.

Hold this for three deep breaths. Side stretch is number four of six. Side stretch. While seated, place your right hand to your right and slide it away from you as you lean to the right, opening up your left side. You can also reach your left arm over your head and reaching it toward the right.

Breathe deep throughout this stretch, keeping your body and your breath moving the whole time, then repeat on the other side. That's pretty straightforward, right? It's just a stretch, okay? You don't have to lift weights or run or walk or anything, you just stretch. Here's number five, hug stretch. While seated, wrap your arms around your ribcage in a big hug with each hand on the opposite side shoulder blade. Take a big breath in and as you exhale drop your chin toward your chest and round your

spine forward as far as you can pressing your bottom elbow toward your belly button. Okay I got so many things going on here I'm not sure I can follow all of that. One more time while seated wrap your arms around your rib cage in a big hug with each hand on the opposite side of shoulder blade. Take a big breath in and as you exhale drop your chin towards your chest and round your spine forward as far as you can. Pressing your bottom elbow towards your belly button. I don't know, I have to try that one a few times. Here's the last one. Twist pose. While laying on

your back, hug your knees into your chest. Okay, that's pretty simple. Drop both knees off to one side while you open up your arms nice and wide right and create some lateral flexion in the spine and a feeling of twist. Got it? While any of these stretches can offer benefits throughout the day, they are most effective during the transition from activity to rest. In other words, before you go to bed, you don't have to do them all. Just do a couple.

Do the ones that you can figure out. That sounds like I knew what I was talking about. Okay. Give it a try. Who knows my work. Okay, I think that's gonna do it for this Tuesday episode of The Bridge. It's great to have the SMT guys with us.

And your little sleep hint for this week from right here on the bridge. Tomorrow it's our encore edition. Haven't picked one yet, but there will be one up tomorrow. So enjoy that. Thursday we're back with your turn. The answers to your questions about summer vacations plus the random renter. Give him his last run before the summer break and then Friday of course is good talk with Chantel and Rob they'll be here on Friday all right

I'm Peter Mansbridge thanks so much for listening great to have you with us as always and we'll talk to you again tomorrow.