The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #17 -- Your Pandemic Flying Experiences

Episode Date: July 10, 2020

Lots of your good questions, thoughts and comments.

and hello there Peter Mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily end of week 17 here we are at the weekend special. Number 17. I feel like a kid on the last day of school. Last day of school in the olden days. When you're going to take off for the summer. Well, if you were with us yesterday, you know that I'm going to take next week off. I'm going to go do a little fishing, do a little swimming, go to a remote lake, pretty remote anyway, away from all the action for at least a week.

That's the plan anyway. We'll see what happens. I'm absolutely looking forward to it. But not before we do the weekend special, number 17, your questions and comments and thoughts on another week that's gone by in this long saga of the COVID-19 days. So let's get right at it. A reminder that I don't read all the letters I get every week,

but I read a good chunk of them. I don't read all of each letter. I read usually just a little bit from each letter because they're all good. But if we're going to get through a good chunk of them, I've got to do some editing. I try to leave the last one intact, and we'll see whether we are able to do that. So we're starting off this day with Gloria Schwabe

in Pickering, Ontario. I really enjoy an app called Plane Finder. I think we talked about that at one point on the podcast a couple of months ago. It's one of those apps that shows you all the planes in the air, the direction they're flying, who they are, the whole bit. Here in West End, Toronto, it's possible to sit in your yard and identify the flights heading to Pearson.

Pearson International Airport, the Toronto Airport. Well, this afternoon there were a number of domestic flights and an Air Canada flight incoming from Frankfurt. Then, to my amazement, an Air Canada flight was incoming from Houston. Houston! What the heck? Their ICUs are full and we're flying an aircraft load of people into Canada? What are the chances that they will actually self-isolate for 14 days? It angers me that we as Canadians have worked hard and adapted to the COVID-19 reality by physical distancing, wearing masks, and opened our economy very slowly

only to have a plane load from Houston land in Canada. Well, Gloria, you know, you've got to be careful what you're assuming is on that plane and that nobody's checked anybody before they got on that plane. Hopefully, there is a very strict checking system going on with the Air Canada people in Houston, Texas. And there certainly is at the border that they have to come through when they land in Toronto. And one assumes they are going to be monitored in some fashion in terms of the 14-day isolation period. But you're right, it does seem odd

when we're watching on television these horrific stories from Florida and Texas, to name just two, of how they've totally lost it. The numbers are going up, skyrocketing. And there's reason to be concerned when you see a plane coming in from Houston land in Toronto. Bob Goodman writes from Chicago.

I live in Chicago but was born and bred in Toronto. I'll always cherish my Canadian identity and was delighted to find your podcast. I've lived in the U.S. now for 20 years, but I have fond memories of your extraordinary newscast. You were my Canadian Walter Cronkite. Well, you can't give a higher description of somebody in our business than mentioning them in the same breath as Walter Cronkite.

You asked for recent experiences on planes. Well, I recently drove a car out to Denver for my daughter, who's moving there, and flew back to Chicago. I'm a frequent American Airlines customer, so I did get a seat at the front section of the plane. The middle seat was empty, and glancing back at a relatively busy flight, I believe that most middle seats were purposely left unoccupied. That may have changed shortly thereafter. It has in some cases, but as of a few weeks ago, it was the case.

Even with those empty seats, I received multiple emails offering a reward to shift to a less busy flight. Everyone on the flight and in the airport wore masks, other than those eating in the few dining areas still open. I have to say I felt quite safe. Finally, I must tell you how good it felt to hear your voice in news from Canada, especially since I heard your edition reminding Canadians that while their neighbors to the south have obvious problems these days, the U.S. is still Canada's closest friend.

Just like we would with a person, before dismissing a friend with problems, it's important to consider all of the positives of the relationship. I'll be a regular listener from now on. Thank you for bringing a piece of Canada into my life. Bob in Chicago. Thank you for that letter. Jeffrey Oliver, St. John's, Newfoundland. Now, you may remember Jeffrey from a few, I guess it was about two months ago, after I talked about farmers and truckers and grocery store clerks, aside from all the frontline workers.

He wrote in to say, don't forget, seafarers, fishermen are out there getting your seafood. They're working through all this too. And he was right. So he writes today, my last email was regarding seafarers. I'm a seafarer and as part of my job, I often need to fly to wherever my ship may be. My last hitch at sea required me to board the ship in Montreal back in May. We, the crew, were all given instructions on the new airport protocols. Okay, just got to hold on a second here. I guess I just have to cough. Hold on. There. That wasn't hard.

Had a tickle. We were to wear a mask upon sea required me to board the ship in Montreal back in May. Nope, sorry. We were to wear a mask upon entering the airport and keep it on until we left the destination. It was a quiet flight. The plane was only 40% full. We were given water bottles, but that was it. There was almost no interaction with the flight crew. I have to say, due to the quiet nature of the flight, I was actually able to fall asleep, which for me is very rare on a plane. The return flight home at the beginning of June was a bit different. I was flying back to St. John's from Toronto with a stop in Montreal.

I wasn't very happy about the routing, seeing as those two cities have the highest number of COVID cases in Canada. That being said, we donned our masks and headed to the airport. Our temperature was taken before going through security, as well as before boarding the plane. The flight was quick, but it was as full as it could be with the distancing regulations. The next flight was much of the same. One thing I did find interesting, Air Canada handed out COVID packages

containing plastic gloves, a surgical mask, some disinfectant wipes, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Part of me thought, oh, this is a good idea, as I wiped down the surfaces around my seat with the wipes and stuck the hand sanitizer in my bag. But I was puzzled about the masks and gloves. It seemed a bit wasteful, as you have to have a mask before you even get into the airport,

and those masks might be better used in places where masks are not readily available. The actions of Air Canada did help me feel more comfortable about the idea of flying. The distancing was good, but now that they're getting rid of that policy, I'm sure many will feel a little less comfortable on the plane. My biggest issue is with the people who don't wear their masks correctly. Some seem to miss their nose, and it just makes me think if they're this careless with the mask, how careless are they with all the other actions we're all trying to do to stop the spread of COVID-19?

Jeffrey Oliver says, Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, and for reading my father's, too. That's David Oliver, and he's in Victoria. It's nice to hear his thoughts read on your podcast. Even though we are on opposite sides of the country, Victoria and St. John's, it makes me feel closer to home

knowing we're both listening together. That's great. Crystal Steers, St. Catharines, Ontario. I'm writing you today because on Tuesday's podcast, you chatted about how the Republicans are still going to hold their event in Florida, even with the numbers rising as fast as they are. I'm sure you know people from all around the world, but I wanted to add something to that conversation because what I've found over the last three months is that the people I know who live

in the southern USA and are Republican don't seem to believe the science behind any of the COVID-19 information we have. I even know people who work in the health care field who refuse to wear a mask when not at work and don't social distance at all. Now, this, of course, is not true of all the Republicans I know or even all the Republicans from the southern states, but it does seem to be true for a large number of them. Well, I can't vouch for that, Crystal, but obviously it's a concern. Listen, there are people who are adamant about not wearing masks and we've seen some pretty ugly confrontations as a result of that but there are also people who just actually don't believe a lot of what's going on i saw a stat today, some polling data on how many people would take the vaccine

if it was ready, approved, and ready to be distributed. And it suggested that from 25% to 30% of the people surveyed would not take the vaccine. That has scientists and researchers and medical authorities really worried because at a certain point, if you have that many people not taking the vaccine, it does limit the effectiveness of a vaccine. Anyway, Crystal, I can't give you specifics on Republicans and whether they believe in science or not, whether they wear masks or not. The situation in the states right now is just

all we can do is hope that they're able to turn things around. One. And two, we keep the border closed until they do. Brad Buss from Oxbridge, Ontario. Not Oxbridge, Uxbridge. Brad writes, we moved from midtown Toronto to our hobby farm outside of Uxbridge 12 years ago, and boy do we appreciate being on farm haven, as we call our property. It's lockdown heaven.

Not to say there aren't challenges, but having space around us, we've been able to be active outside the whole time, which is essential, and our property has never looked so good. I'd be interested in your thoughts on preparedness for the second wave. We were well prepared here on a rural property, generator, wood fireplace, extra food, water stored, etc., etc. I'm now turning my thoughts to how to be ready for the second wave when traditional flu season comes and Canadians are forced indoors by the cold. We're adding more essentials to the grocery buy each week and also thinking of outside winter activities, skating and maybe snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

What are you thinking of to stay active in the cold? Well, all those things, Brad. I mean, here's a couple of things to keep in mind. One, we're not out of the first wave yet. And when you look at what's going on in the States, they're really not out of the first wave. In fact, what they're witnessing right now in parts of the southern U.S. is worse than it was at the beginning of this, the first

wave. And they're still in the first wave. We're still in the first wave. We seem to have done a pretty good job, not the best in the world by any stretch of the imagination. One day when all this is looked at, there are going to be conclusions drawn that Canada could have acted faster. But right now, we look pretty good compared with our southern neighbors. But we're still in the first wave. Now, keep in mind what Dr. Fauci has said. You don't hear him saying it anymore, right now, anyway. There's no guarantee there'll be a second wave.

It's likely. It may even be more than likely. But there's also the possibility that there won't be one. We'll have to wait and see, obviously. But first of all, we've got to deal with the first wave. But in terms of prep, you've got all the right things. I mean, this time we should be much more prepared. How many of you, you know, had hand sanitizer in your house,

like in, you know, significant numbers? How many of you had masks in your house, like in, you know, significant numbers? How many of you had masks in your house? How many of you had social distancing meters to find out how far apart you are from everybody? Listen, there's lots of stuff. Kleenex, toilet roll, you name it. All of that stuff. We should be prepared for this time. Water. We should be prepared. It should all be in our homes, in our basements, in storage areas.

So we have to think about that. Don't want to go rushing off to the grocery store causing shortages and stuff. But at the same time, we're still dealing with wave one, and wave one needs all of us to be focused on the key elements of washing our hands, social distancing, wearing masks outside and inside. Outside when we're near other people, inside all the time, in public places, you know, and wherever you may be, not in your home, unless you've got a lot of guests all of a sudden.

All right. Anne Campbell writes, if by some chance Donald Trump decides against running for re-election in November, what process is in place to find a new Republican candidate? Well, you know, their convention is next month, supposedly in Florida. But one way or another, they have to have a convention which makes it official who their candidate is. And their candidate, as of this moment, is Donald Trump. If for some reason he announced tomorrow,

you know what? I'm not going to run. I was a one-term president. I will leave it at that. Time to hand it over to somebody else. Well, that convention would have to make that determination. After three or four days of rejoicing on the part of Republicans, they would then have to come up with somebody who's ready to take on the leadership of their party. And they would run then for this convention next month. Now, if he's nominated at the convention, as seems to be the situation,

and then changes his mind in September or October, then whoever was nominated as the vice president, we assume it's Mike Pence, but you never know, then they would become the presidential candidate and it would be up to them to nominate somebody to be vice president. That, Anne, I think is the best I can do for you. Robert Ong in Toronto. that and i think is the best i can do for you robert ong in toronto during one of your friday episodes where you read mail from listeners like myself that's like this one there was one that

stood out for me it was the letter from the young man from quebec i believe that wrote that he wished he was born a century ago because there was more economic opportunity. That struck a chord with me because I had similar thoughts as him. There were times I wished I was in either 1950s Canada or, frankly, back in the Philippines, essentially because of the environment of a growing economy. That could have easily been me writing that letter to you. My original plan for later on this year when I graduated university in the fall was to go on a gap year and travel the world. Now for obvious

reasons my gap year plans have been postponed indefinitely but that doesn't mean I'll stop traveling altogether as I'm planning to take day trips around southern Ontario when I'm done with summer school next month. It would give me the opportunity to explore more of my home province before exploring the wider world. I don't want to be one of those folks that have traveled all over the world but barely traveled within Canada. Well, good for you, Robert. That's a good plan. And listen, there's nothing boring about this country. You can travel all of it and you'll never be bored. It's a great country with lots to see. And, you know, I've been lucky. I've traveled the world. I've seen a lot of things,

met a lot of interesting people, seen a lot of great places. None, none are as exciting, as dynamic, as inspiring as the country we call home. Terry Walsh from Grand Bank, Newfoundland. There's another great place. I've enjoyed listening to The Bridge daily on my commutes to work. I have a 30-minute drive, which affords me just enough time to listen to the episode before I start my day as a community pharmacist. During COVID-19, I've had a mix of thoughts and opinions. Living in rural Newfoundland, I seem to be having a different experience with COVID-19 than many people in a mostly positive way, which has led to some interesting outcomes.

We have managed to have very little cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland, very few again outside the St. John's metro region. This has led to a very cavalier attitude locally about public health guidelines. Mask wearing is almost non-existent, and ironically the people I see wearing masks, and the limited few that I see wearing them, are mostly younger, maybe mid-30s, rather than the more susceptible older population, who seem to think COVID-19 and mask wearing is too much of an inconvenience to bother with.

Physical distancing only exists in shops because the stores enforce it, not because the patrons feel a sense of obligation to protect one another. If stores removed the physical distancing markers, I feel like customers would go back to the old times of a few months ago and line up shoulder to shoulder, desperate to save those 30 seconds of waiting to get checked out faster. People enjoyed discussing the zero active cases and 30-plus days with no new cases, but also liked to point out that the second wave is coming in an ominous tone, while again, ironically,

not caring enough to wear a mask or distance to prevent said second wave from having devastating consequences. That's just part of Terry's letter, but it's an interesting reflection of an area where there have been very few cases and large chunks of the province where there have been no cases at all. Now, it could be a couple of days out of date here,

but I thought I heard something earlier this week that said that Newfoundland had been, you know, something like 35 days without a new case. Some incredible number. But you want to keep it that way? There are guidelines for a reason. Laura Travosi from Thornbury, Ontario. That's up on Georgian Bay. I wanted to let you know I've had the same pajamas for this entire pandemic. It's the result of a story I told. I don't know when it was, a couple of weeks ago. I've been wearing the same shirt for Zoom calls for four months now.

Anyway, Laura writes, I'm on maternity leave, and even before the crazy hit was only going out for only necessities and my minimum of one walk a day. I make a point to wear a new outfit each day. And I go for a walk so I don't look as lazy getting dressed to go outside as I have been to get dressed to go to bed. It's sad because the PJs are so torn so much that they once used to be pants and now they're shorts.

The moral of the story is even though I live in a small town where barely anyone will see me walking outside, I'm still trying to make an effort, but not fully. Thank you, Laura, for sharing that with us. Spencer Stinson from Blenheim, Ontario. Spencer's writing about some comments I made the other day about misinformation on social media in regards to misinformation on social media I believe it's finally time for governments to hold social media responsible for this type of problem if social media platforms allow their users to

post whatever they want and Facebook absolutely should be held accountable like other far more reputable media outlets currently already are. While we can all say that fact-checking and being a critical thinker are good skills to have, there are not inherent schools that everyone possesses and are part of the whole reason spreading this propaganda is so successful. People are busy, and if they can read a short headliner story that reinforces a point of view that may lean towards their existing views, it becomes very easy to fall into that narrative trap. Even if a person these days gets past the headline and halfway through the article, they will usually think nothing of it by sharing it again across all their various circles, thus further spreading the misinformation.

Maybe it's time we go back to the days where you had to have a university or college email domain before you could even sign up for Facebook and you could only post photos. Of course not. How would they make any money? Isn't that really the main point here? It will obviously affect their bottom line if they have links to less sensational and false news stories that are continuously shared across multiple platforms. I myself did away with Facebook years ago in my 20s. I'm now 34. I missed it for about a day and then had no desire to ever go back. Spencer Stinson from Blenheim, Ontario.

Thanks, Spencer, for that. Megan Rondo. I was listening to the episode of the podcast where you talk about golfing with Ron McLean. That was just earlier this week. You mentioned how he was getting ready for hockey to start again. Like many Canadians, I'm excited for hockey to return. As an Edmontonian, though, I'm very nervous about how the return of hockey could impact my city.

Right now, Edmonton is expected to be named one of the NHL hub cities, which makes sense because of the new arena and our relatively low numbers when it comes to COVID-19 cases. For a while, it looked like Vancouver would be one of the NHL hub cities. After the Vancouver Canucks announced they were stepping out of the race, I read an article that talked about this decision. The article said, we've referred to this before, but the article said that the NHL and health officials in BC could not agree on a contingency plan should a player test positive

for COVID-19. In regards to discussions with the NHL, the chief medical officer for BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry said, we are doing very well. We have a good balance, but under no circumstances was I going to compromise in any way the health of people here in BC, and we made that very clear. I respect Dr. Henry's stance and applaud her in putting the health of British Columbians first. Around the end of June, the Alberta government put out a video to promote Edmonton as an ideal location as a potential NHL hub city should the Hockey League resume play this season. This video went viral in Edmonton because of the lack of Edmonton content in it. Most of the video is scenes from Jasper and Banff, which are beautiful, but not Edmonton. Some commented that the video was meant to showcase things that the players' families can do while

visiting the province. I was kind of taken aback by that. I was under the impression if the NHL does resume its season, players and their families would be in a bubble. I didn't think they would be traveling around the province. I'm not sure if the families are going to be in the same bubble as the players. COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. We have been pretty lucky in Edmonton to have a relatively low number of cases. I don't want this to change. Being an NHL hub city would help boost the Edmonton and Alberta economies. However, I don't want it to come at a sacrifice to the health of people

in this city or province. Okay, two letters to kind of finish off the weekend special for this week. First one's from Rob Decker. A quick note to follow up on your Thursday podcast, this was yesterday's actually, on newspapers and local papers. I remember reading the Stratford Beacon Herald Daily. It was an important resource for me as an employee of CJCSAM from 1984 to 1990. That's the local station here in Stratford. The scope of local news was great. It covered more of Stratford and Perth County than we could do on the radio. A month into COVID, I upped my Saturday-only subscription to the Globe and Mail.

We'd been watching a lot of TV news, and at that time, it was all COVID all the time. I went to the full week of getting the paper at my front door so I could get more than COVID news in Canada and the U.S., and to get more than COVID news overall. Reading the paper daily has definitely informed me of so much more news than a 60-minute news cycle on network and local news can provide. Good point, Rob. Okay, here's the last one.

This comes from Hawkesbury, Ontario. Patrick Tallon writes. Same topic. Good letter here. In response to your remarks yesterday about the press, and especially the importance

of community newspapers, I thought I would send in this note. First off, I think a strong and independent press is critical to our democracy. Having the financial clout and indemnification to pursue large stories keeps governments and corporations accountable. I cringe when I hear about bloggers and influencers as they just don't have the wherewithal to take on big stories. Fine for them to comment on what someone may be wearing on the red carpet,

but they will never pursue stories like Robin Doodlittle has on injustice across Canada when women report sexual assault cases. Police forces and crown prosecutors across Canada change policies and procedures due to Robin's reporting. That is impactful journalism, and I will echo that. Robin Doolittle is a terrific journalist. First got national attention when she was working for the Toronto Star and breaking stories around Mayor Rob Ford.

And then hopped over to the Globe, where her work has been equally impressive and impactful, as Patrick says. Back to Patrick's letter. Back to the purpose of my note, community newspapers. My wife and I moved to L'Original, Ontario, just over a year ago. Right away, we subscribed to the local weekly newspaper called The Review. This paper covers a wide variety of stories for eastern Ontario and

the communities along the Ottawa River on the Quebec side. Published on Wednesday, this paper kept us well informed about news in our community, and more importantly, as new residents, what is going on. We knew of farmers markets, of musicians playing at the local legion or Knights of Columbus Hall, how the junior hockey team was doing. It's been invaluable to use. When the pandemic hit in March the review made a bold and brave decision to make their online version of the paper free to everyone. The review felt that what they had to say was so important to the region that they opened up their subscription to anyone who needed to access it. As we pull out

of the pandemic in the upcoming months, I hope that the review's bold decision brings them more readers and future prosperity. The second community newspaper I want to call out is the North Renfrew Times in Deep River, Ontario. I was raised in Deep River and can't think of a better town to grow up in. I've been gone from Deep River for over 30 years now, but I still get my weekly North Renfrew Times delivered to me in a digital format. As is with the review, it is published every Wednesday and has rich content about Deep River and the surrounding communities. It's a fantastic paper. It covers local news items, social events, and even has a match-it-up section that I read religiously. If you left a pair of wool mitts at the Deep River Library, no doubt you will be reunited with these mitts through match-it-up. My favorite section is This

Week in History. This section will highlight stories by decade over the past 60 years. It's always interesting to read what went on in our little town in years past. In closing, our country is richer and stronger when we have capable and healthy press at all levels. These journalists keep us informed, connected, and reminded of our history. Critical work. These journalists keep us informed, connected, and reminded of our history. Critical work. Special shout-out to the Review in Van Cleek Hill and the North Renfrew Times in Deep River.

Great community newspapers with a rich history and hopefully a strong future. Nice, Patrick. You know, we agree. We obviously agree. I worry a lot about community newspapers, the kind of papers that you mentioned. Dozens, if not hundreds, have gone out of business

across our country over the last 10 or 15 years. Some are desperately struggling right now. And when decisions are made, like the decision made by the review to go online available to everyone without a subscription, those are appropriate journalistically. They're tough to defend business-wise, unless there's a payoff down the road. And I, like you, Patrick, hope that's exactly what happened. I hope the people who are getting their free copies of the review now

recognize how important it is to them and to their community. And when we get through this ugly period in our history, that they'll do the right thing and subscribe to the paper, remembering how much it's meant to them through all of this. All right. A reminder that next week I'll be fishing. I will take my little portable gear with me, but only plan to use it if something huge comes up.

If it does, I'll figure out a way somehow to get a podcast out. There are lots of things happening, not just in the fight against COVID-19, as you well know. But there are also things happening on the political front. The problems that the Trudeau government and the Prime Minister himself have had in these last couple of days are ones that could develop into serious problems for the government that's trying to manage a pandemic and now is faced with managing a level of scandal around it right now that they certainly don't need.

So how they'll deal with it, I don't know. It'll be something, you know, we'll obviously all have to watch in these days ahead. Anyway, I hope that you're able to take a break somehow. I'm sure as difficult as these days are, most people are trying to figure out a way to get a bit of a break, to get a bit of a holiday, to show their families that there's more to life right now

than continually having to worry about the dangers that do exist. Before I leave, there's one other thing I should mention. A number of you wrote in response to a commentary I did a couple of days ago about the dilemma surrounding schools and when students would be going back if they would be going back how safe was it going to be how difficult it was

for parents and a number of you wrote saying you know Peter it was all good except And a number of you wrote saying, you know, Peter, it was all good, except you didn't talk about teachers and what they've been going through. And I'm sorry, I should have. I have more than a few times over these last four months of this Bridge Daily. But I didn't in that one, and I should have. Teachers are incredible people. They're remarkable.

How they've had to handle all this. And the uncertainties about what happens next. And so, yes. I remember our teachers. My daughter's a teacher. Okay? So, as I said, you have a good time. I'm planning to try and have a good time.

But I'll be back in, what, nine or ten days? And we'll pick it all up again when that happens. So I'm Peter Mansbridge. This has been the Bridge Daily, the weekend special number 17. You take care of yourselves. Stay safe. And we'll talk to you again in another, whatever it is, nine or ten days. Thank you.