The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Week To Finally Say Goodbye To 2020

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

Welcome to week 42

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily it's monday of week 42 and i hope you had a good holiday weekend. White Christmas here in Stratford, it was great. Man, it felt like there was, I don't know, 15 centimeters of snow out there. It certainly delivered for a holiday Christmas weekend. And now we're into the final week of December, the final week of 2020, and goodbye 2020. Been a difficult year all around. We know that.

It ended difficult fashion, no question about that, and it's going to start in a difficult fashion as well in 2021. But we have great hopes for where it could all lead if we eventually get the vaccines in our arms, right? Lots of discussion and debate about the speed at which these vaccines are coming out. Nevertheless, they are on their way at some speed, and we'll get to that, I'm sure, as the week goes on. Okay, the reason we're doing a podcast today, it is supposedly, it's kind of like a boxing day for many people today, many businesses.

Even though it's December 28th, but I guess the way that framed out over the weekend. As a result, I was not planning to do a podcast today, but I thought, you know what? Let's do one anyway, and you'll understand why in a few minutes because I've got a couple of really fascinating letters I want to read to you. But first, we're going to bring Bruce in. Bruce Anderson's in Ottawa, of course. Hello, Peter. There he is. And you will hear the quality of his sound.

It's much better than it was last week. We finally sorted out some of these audio problems. And we're going to keep working at it. And you'll see that we'll finally get control of these things, as we seem to have now. Now, Bruce is in today on a Monday, which is unusual. This is not smoke mirrors and the truth. But it is. It's kind of a tease from Bruce

as to what we are going to do on Wednesday of this week. It's not a contest, but it's kind of a, well, it's kind of a quiz in a way. But a quiz where we're sort of challenging each other to come up with certain things. So why don't you give us an explanation of that, Mr. Anderson? I will. This is an idea that I've been thinking about, Peter, because as you said, maybe you didn't put it quite this way. This year has been a garbage year and it's time to think about putting it in the bin. And the way that I'm trying to do that

is to think about all of the positive things that could happen next year. Don't know that they will happen. But I've been thinking about, well, what would I like to see happen? What stories would I like to read at some point in the coming year? And so you and I got chatting and I thought, why don't we have a show this week that focuses on that? What do we want to read? Or, you know, I say read, we could read it on the screen, we could see it on a TV screen. But what news do we want to find somewhere along the way this year? And so I thought it would be a good idea for us to put those questions to ourselves. And as we approach our conversation on Wednesday, I'll keep my answers to myself until we're on air talking with each other. You'll do the same thing. But in the meantime, let's put those questions out so that our listeners can consume the questions and maybe send emails to you.

You always give them your email address, and that's a good way that they can do it. We'll put those questions on Instagram and Twitter as well so that people can reflect on them a little bit. And so I thought it would be a good idea for us to talk this morning about what those questions are, and it's pretty simple. The first question is, what news story do you want to read in the coming year about Canada? And what news story do you want to read in the coming year about somewhere else in the world? And it can be pandemic or it can be something else, some idea that you have for a thing that could happen this year that would make you feel really, really good. We're going to, you and I are going to come up with a couple of Canadian and a couple of international stories that we're looking at.

But if listeners just want to send us their, this is the one story I'm really hoping for this year, Canadian and international, that would be great. Because a lot of people like sports, we thought it would be a good idea to ask, what one sports story do you want to read about? Do you want to hear about this year? And the same thing about entertainment. And entertainment can be anything. It can be movies. It could be music. It'd be TV shows that you're streaming. It could be a celebrity pop culture. It can be fun. It can be serious. It's entirely up to you. Go Leafs Go. Go Leafs Go. Go Leafs Go. I've been hearing you on that for 40 years, and they don't have the go. They just don't have the go. Oh, this is going to be different.

All right. Maybe it's going to be different. I'm thinking the Expos are coming back before the Leafs are going to win anything. But there you go. Yeah, good luck with that. And the last two questions. Let's imagine that a time in the year comes when all of the restrictions are lifted and the people in charge of the restrictions say you can now go anywhere that you want. Now, for some people that might be, I just want to go, you know, five doors down and see the people that I haven't been able to see.

For other people that might be, I want to get on a plane and go to the farthest reaches of the world. We want to know where would you go on that day after we're all allowed to go wherever we want to go. And then the last one, which is your idea when we were talking about this yesterday, and I really liked it, is that in a given year, there's a phrase or a word that comes to kind of be the thing that was talked about a lot. And maybe we didn't see coming and became almost the kind of the most important way to capture the theme that dominated the news in the year. And so in the past, it might have been pandemic or Black Lives Matter or you can think of a number of them. But what do we think it will be in the coming year? If we tried a crystal ball, and maybe we won't be able to really guess it, maybe that's just the nature of the world is that things happen and all of a sudden they become enormous

topics of discussion and they're unpredictable but to the extent that we can give it a shot what is the phrase or the word that you think will become part of our culture in the coming year? So those are the questions. Canadian story that you're hoping to read, international story that you're hoping to read, sports story you hope for, entertainment story you'd like to see. Where would you go when you can go somewhere? And what's the phrase or the word that will define the year after the garbage year, the better year, 2021, that we're all looking forward to? I like those last two questions a lot. You know, where would you go and what's the phrase? Because those are simple, straightforward, kind of like one or two word answers.

Those are good. The other one's a little more challenging in terms of maybe how you're going to express your thoughts. But nevertheless, as Bruce says, we're going to put this out on Twitter and Instagram probably later today. So if you didn't catch them all here just now, you'll see them there. And if you want to say, you know, you can just play this as a home game, right? But if you want to send them to me, no prizes, just my goodwill in looking at them and recognizing they're really good ones. And we'll read some, won't we, on Wednesday?

Wednesday. Yeah, we'll read some. Yeah, we'll read some on Wednesday. That's the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com, the Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. man's bridge podcast at gmail.com all right thank you sir it's great to have you in on a special Monday with this much clearer audio just so happy to be here be clear and share a little bit of my day after boxing day morning with you Peter and look forward to talking to you very soon you got it thanks. Thanks, Bruce. Okay. So as I was

saying, a couple of other things I want to talk about. And one of them relates to the Friday broadcast that we did where the winner of the message that she wanted to give for the year was a woman by the name of Charlotte Rams. And her message for the year, remember we had this thing we kind of used as a gimmick, come up with the message you'd do if you were the queen.

And Charlotte Rams wrote, during these trying times and throughout the coming year, strive to be more compassionate, decent, and charitable to your fellow citizens. Now Charlotte's story is she's 95, almost 96 apparently. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland, but she's a Canadian. She was born in Manitoba, grew up in Manitoba. Still has Canadian connections in the sense she loves to listen and check in on Canadian news all the time.

At 95, almost 96. So when she heard that she'd won, her son, who helps her out, decided, hey, I better write to Peter and tell him a little more about Charlotte, which is nice. I get a lot of follow-up letters from many of you, and I appreciate them all. I don't usually read them, but I'm going to read this one because Charlotte Rams has a great life story to tell. So I thought I'd read it and share it with you.

And this is from her son. He wrote to me over this weekend. Charlotte is my 95-year-old mother, soon to be 96 years old on February 25th. I brought up last night your Wednesday podcast for her to hear, and when I suggested submitting a proposed message after you described the contest, she immediately came up with the need for everyone to be more compassionate, decent, and charitable to each other. I merely typed out and sent the message through my email account since her vision is poor these days. Even though we live in the United States, we have enjoyed

watching your many years of broadcasting excellence on the CBC, particularly on election nights and on Canada Day. When we were in Ottawa for Canada Day in 2010 to see Queen Elizabeth, we noticed you standing immediately next to us in the early morning crowd at the war memorial ceremony that was remembering the Newfoundland World War I casualties. We left you undisturbed. Charlotte was born and raised in Narrow, Manitoba, on a farm along the banks of the Red River northeast of Winnipeg, River Lot 261 on Henderson Highway south of Lockport. Oh, I know that area well. Love Lockport.

What's the name of that place? They sell hot dogs there? Probably still sell hot dogs there. Love Lockport. What's the name of that place? They sell hot dogs there? Probably still sell hot dogs there. Great hot dogs. Her family used to grow wheat, barley, oats, and vegetables, and during winter months would skate and play hockey on the frozen Red River. As a little girl, she remembers waving with her family at the riverfront to Eric Severide and Walter Port

as they paddled past them on their famous 1930 canoe trip from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Now, I'm just going to pause here for a minute because I did not know that story. I certainly know who Eric Severide is, and I'm sure the name may be familiar to some of you. He was a great correspondent for CBS News. During the Second World War, he was one of the Murrow boys. Ed Murrow hired him. He covered the war. He was in Paris the day the Germans entered Paris in 1940 and he was one of the first people to report on that story but Eric Severide went on to have a distinguished career

as a CBS correspondent and opinion leader he used to do opinion columns on Cronkite Show on CBS right up until almost until he passed away in the early 1990s. But this story about Eric Severide and this canoe trip was before he was a journalist. Just out of university. And he made this famous journey, which was famous at the time, from Minneapolis all the way to Hudson Bay.

I think it was York Factory he ended up at on the shores of Hudson Bay. And Charlotte paints the picture of how she and her family, on their lot on the banks of the Red River watched as they canoed by. There was a lot of fuss around the story about these two guys from the States who were going to canoe all the way to Hudson Bay. And they stood there and waved at them. And she captures that moment in a way about Eric Severide that I didn't realize. But it was a big deal.

In fact, that whole Minneapolis to Winnipeg and further points north was a big deal in various races over the years. Canoeing then, snowmobiling later. Jacques Villeneuve, I can

remember this from my time in Winnipeg in the 1970s, before he got into F1 Formula One racing, he used to race snowmobiles. And he won that race one year, Minneapolis to Winnipeg, snowmobile race. Well, Eric Severide ended up writing a book about his canoeing exploits, which is still, believe it or not, all these years later, you can still buy a copy of it. It's called Canoeing with the Cree. It came out in 1935, and it was based on that trip that he'd taken.

In 1930, the Charlotte Rams stood on the shore of the Red River and waved as he went by. Back to Charlotte's letter. In the spring of 1939, only a couple of months before the start of World War II, she saw King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I go by in an open car in Kildonan Park when they visited Winnipeg. And accidentally, with her schoolmates unfurled backward, a banner exclaiming, Donald's school welcomes you. The royal couple only saw the blank side of the banner. Donald's school was a two-classroom school

she attended near the intersection of Henderson Highway and Donald Road in Naurarl, Manitoba. Charlotte later taught grades 1 to 8 for a year as a student teacher in Gimli, Manitoba, in a one-room schoolhouse, Gimli's a little further north, from Lockport up towards the lakes, where nearly all the students were offspring of new Iceland settlers and knew very little English. Her family subsequently immigrated to Chicago at the end of World War II, where she married my father, Edwin Rams, who was a World War II Navy veteran and later an author consultant in urban renewal, city planning, and land use. He passed away in 1980.

I'm one of five children, Mary Joan, age 68, a pharmacist at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Margaret, age 67, a retired dentist, Robert, age 59, a retired industrial hygienist with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Janet, who died, sadly, at one and a half years old from a congenital heart problem, and myself, age 65, a dentist, periodontist, who teaches at Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, famous school of dentistry there at Temple. Despite the many years of living in the United States,

Charlotte remains intently devoted to Canadian values and public affairs and listens nightly via the internet to CBC local news broadcasts from Winnipeg. All these years later, after leaving Winnipeg and Manitoba, still listens in. And Ottawa. We also have viewed all episodes of The Canada Files. That's a show that's on many of the PBS stations in the United States. It's an interview program. And last year

they actually interviewed me as a feature for one of their half-hour programs. And as Charlotte and her son say, they watched the one on me as well. Anyway, wrapping up, Thomas Ram says, thank you again for selecting my mother's proposed Queen's Christmas message for your broadcast. She was overwhelmed and sobbed with appreciation for your kind and generous words. She looks forward to receiving your new book. I will read out loud to her any parts she has difficulty seeing. Best regards. Merry Christmas. Thomas Rams. Isn't that great? I love that. It's like a little history lesson about one family in a way, but really more than that.

It's kind of about the times that Charlotte Rams has witnessed in her near century on this planet. But I got to tell you, I love that story. I can imagine, I can picture her at the shoreline waving to Eric Severat as he went by. Okay. Two more. These are shorter. But they're equally interesting. Actually, there's three more. All short.

Love this one. We don't often hear from the high Arctic. We had a letter from Iqaluit, I think, last week. But Dawn Katsak wrote to us from Pond Inlet. At least she's from Pond Inlet. She's now living in Iqaluit. I've been enjoying your podcast for some time. I'm also reading your Extraordinary Canadians book and bought one for a friend as a Christmas gift.

Thank you for that. It's a great book. Thank you for that. It's been so long I turned on the radio or TV news since some bad orange man brought bad news everywhere. I don't have a poem to write. I'm not so good at it. I may be late for good outcomes of COVID-19, bad times, but I have a little story. Three towns of Santa Kuluak, Rankin Inlet, and Arviat were hit hard by the pandemic. As soon as we all heard in Nunavut, pouring love and support

came all over towards the people, mostly in prayers or well-wishing. Food and donations came soon after from Inuit-owned non-profit organizations as soon as immediate lockdown took place. Santa Kulawak and Rankin Inlet cases have all recovered. 225 cases have recovered, only 34 left if they follow the rules. We were all advised to not play the blame game if Nunavut gets affected. We were told to be sensitive and to be careful of what we say about the subject and rather show support in how we can learn to better ourselves. Our Christmas is not that different from last year. We didn't have family come in or we didn't travel

as we usually do to Ottawa. We didn't plan it well last year. We just tell ourselves good things come to those who wait. My common law, Jordan Kayak, has been spending more time with our kids. I swear he could have been a teacher, but even if he isn't, he still is. We have to count our blessings that our town of Iqaluit has not been affected yet. Spending more time with our kids has been wonderful.

They are happier, more talkative, and they've learned to do things on their own. My daughter became determined to make homemade slime. She was not good at science before, but now it clicked on her. But far back in January 1st of 1998, I've always wanted to thank you for mentioning my sister. She gave birth during a big blizzard in Iqaluit A doctor had to use a snowmobile from the hospital to my uncle's house I thought it was unexpected When I watched the national news, I was so happy So thank you Okay, Dawn

That was a long time ago A lot of lessons in that little letter, too About how a community pulls together, struggles together, learns together, while always being sensitive and careful about the things they say and who they point fingers at. Here's one from Cassandra Webster. This is, this is short. I'm writing you from my basement where me and my dog blue are attempting to restore this dark cavern into something a little warmer for what may be a long

winter of isolation. For me, 2020 has been more silver than dreary. I had a baby in June, and like many women in their early 30s, I dreaded the impact new motherhood would have on my career. But in the depths of a pandemic, there are no promotions, training is cancelled, networking is all but forbidden. I stayed home this summer with my little one and her grandparents. We cooked, gardened, and watched this newborn with amazement. 2020 wasn't so bad.

But what I have yet to mention is my basement lays beneath an RCMP house on the Alberta Prairies. It has housed many Mounties over the last 30 years, some of which are quite noteworthy themselves. So during the height of the pandemic, my husband and I, both Mounties, were faced with the Black Lives Matter movement and realities of policing in Canada. If I said 2020 was a good year, then it would mean I had learned nothing. This year I learned that my occupation comes with great controversy, and that maybe I'm not the great mentor I once hoped to be. This year I was forced to reflect on what I owe Canadians of color, and how I want my daughter to see me.

This year I paused. Thank you, Cassandra. I don't think anybody needs to say anything to further comment on that letter. I think it's a great letter. Now, a few weeks ago, I talked about being in the Eaton Center in downtown Toronto. I guess it was like two weeks ago. And it was almost empty. Most of the stores were closed, and those that were open

were doing curbside pickup from the mall. And I had to order something from a particular store, and so I was in there, and I found myself looking up and explaining to my son, who was with me, what a big deal those geese hanging from the ceiling used to be. And even when the Eaton Center opened, what was that, late 70s, early 80s? That a lot of the attraction of the place was in those geese, the Canada geese that are hanging from the ceiling.

Well, I got a letter from George Isserhoff in Mississauga. I was listening to your podcast this morning, and I thought I would share this regarding the Canada geese hanging at the Eden Center. The artist who made these geese is Michael Snow, and the geese have been hanging there since 1979. This is what it says about them. And it's, you know, I thank you for sending this, George,

because it reminded me of facts that I hadn't realized. The artwork is called Flight Stop. It's a 1979 site-specific artwork by Canadian artist Michael Snow. Located in the Toronto Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto, the work hangs from the ceiling and appears to depict 60 Canada geese in flight. Each individual goose is made of styrofoam covered in fiberglass and covered in a sheath made from photographs taken from a single goose. The flock is frozen in mid-flight. Flight stop being a pun on the nature of still photography. When conceived in

1977, the work was titled Flight Stop, but has frequently also been titled Flight Stop. One word instead of two. The work remains an iconic public art piece in Toronto and in many ways stands as a visual identity for the mall. I think it does, but I think a lot of people have either forgotten that or never even knew about it. They're so fixated on what's in the windows, they don't look up. Well, next time you're in there, if you're in the Eaton Center in downtown Toronto, and we're back in a normal life, or somewhat normal, look up.

See you. It's a great piece of art. All righty. That was your special December 28th edition of the podcast. I remind you that we'll be back tomorrow, but on Wednesday, that little, I don't know. It's not a contest. It's not a quiz. It's kind of a game more than anything, but one we can all play and play along with.

And if you have some ideas on some of those questions that were mentioned by Bruce, send them along. I'd love to hear them. And, you know, we may include them at times, depending on how long that podcast goes, which could be quite long. But let's try to enjoy that moment as well. Okay, that's it for this. I was going to call it a special edition of the Bridge Daily.

It's not that special. It's just Monday. But it's the last Monday of 2020. Goodbye to this, right? Let's get it behind us. All right. That's today's edition of the Bridge Daily. I'm Peter Mansbridge.

Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back in 24 hours. I'm Chris Schwarz.