The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #49

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

Our regular Friday special that focuses on the best of your week's comments and questions   Today vaccines, books, and weather highlight the comments and then as we do every week, we pick the letter of the week.

Hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Friday, my favorite day, your day. It's the weekend special with your thoughts, comments and questions. Ah, yes. The Weekend Special. We love Fridays. We love Fridays. All right, the Weekend Special, right here on SiriusXM, Channel 167, Canada Talks,

and on your favorite podcast. Weekend Special is all about your thoughts, your questions, your comments, your ideas that you've sent in during the past week. And once again, this week, there are lots of them. So let's get right at it with the reminder that I don't necessarily read your whole letter, especially if it's long, right? I look for the best parts of it, at least the best parts for me of your letter. Now this week, we're lucky because we have a lot of letters and most people are keeping that in mind. Most people, not all, and they're being relatively concise and focused. And that's great because there are some wonderful letters and we always end up the weekend special

with what is kind of my favorite letter of the week. Could be for any number of reasons and so we'll move our way forward to that point. One thing please keep in mind, especially new writers who have just been listening to the weekend special since we started on SiriusXM a few weeks ago, always include where you're writing from because it helps give us a sense, a picture of the country

and the mood of the country when you just add the place, the location you're writing from at the end of the letter or the beginning of the letter. So not just your name, where you're writing from as well. You will notice that it says the weekend special 49 for this one. That's because we started doing these 49 weeks ago. And we were just a little podcast. We're still coming out of the same place, Stratford, Ontario,

but initially it was kind of like a hobby. Never really realized just how long it would go for. We started on a daily basis as a result of COVID-19. And somebody wrote to me a couple of weeks ago saying, man, I went back and I listened to some of those-19. And somebody wrote to me a couple of weeks ago saying, man, I went back and I listened to some of those early ones. We really didn't know what was going on back then, and we didn't. You know, there was this kind of initial debate about masks

and really, do we really need them, and what are we doing? All that stuff. So, you know, it's interesting in that sense to go back and listen to some of the early ones because we've watched how the virus kind of took over our lives. So anyway, this is week 49. Next week's a signature week, right? Week 50.

It is remarkable. Anyway, let's get to the letters. First one comes from an old and dear friend of mine, Marilyn Trenum Council. Now, Marilyn's a former lieutenant governor of New Brunswick, former senator, an Order of Canada recipient. She's an officer of the Order of Canada recipient. She's an officer of the Order of Canada. And she's very involved with the same university that I'm very involved with, which is Mount Allison in New Brunswick.

Sackville, New Brunswick. And, in fact, Marilyn lives in Sackville. She wrote me this week. Short, to the point. Your podcast continues to be a very special conclusion to my evenings. Now I'm excited about your new feature, Good Talk. And we announced that earlier this week, right? Good Talk.

It's going to be on SiriusXM. It's exclusive to SiriusXM. I need to know the real rollout procedure for you, and I'll explain that as soon as I'm convinced I know exactly how that will work. But the first one is going to be next Thursday at 5 p.m. on SiriusXM, channel 167. And the beauty of Good Talk is it's going to be focused on national politics.

It's not the bridge. It's separate from the bridge totally. But it's Bruce Anderson, Chantal Hébert, and myself. And occasionally we'll have a fourth on as a guest. Could be another journalist. Could be somebody specific to a particular issue. Could be a politician. Could be any number of different people. But we'll start, just to get it going, with just the three of us.

And kind of looking at the landscape in Canadian politics, especially this year, because it's not certain, but it's likely that there's going to be an election this fall, depending on where we are with COVID. Most minority governments, that's what we have right now, most minority governments are governments that last somewhere around two years. So this fall will be the two-year mark. Doesn't mean there will be an election, but the possibility exists. And one of the things we haven't done as a program here in, well, last year is talk much about domestic politics. There have been a few things come up, but not a lot. And so we'll start by trying to get a sense of the landscape as it is right now

who knows what it'll be like this fall or next spring or whenever but we'll try and get a sense of the landscape right now so that's bruce and chantelle five o'clock next thursday 25th of february on sirius xm um how you get that if you don't already subscribe to SiriusXM, that's what I'm going to explore, and we will let you know on that early next week on exactly how that's going to roll out. But we're working on a couple of angles for you, okay? So that's the answer to your question, Marilyn. And it's great, as it always is, it's great to hear from you. One of the people who's been so involved in not only the country, but especially in the Maritimes. And one of the great builders, thinkers, of Canada's Atlantic provinces.

All right, next letter comes from Gary Schaffran. There have been a lot of letters this week about the vaccine and the fallout on the debate about the vaccines and delivery schedules and supplies, etc., etc. And Gary writes from Markham, Ontario. I've listened for weeks to politicians and commentators criticize the Canadian vaccine acquisition contracts over two points that frankly make my head spin.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've negotiated many contracts over the course of my career. The first is that the government should have demanded tougher terms on delivery from the manufacturers. One politician said that a first-year law student would have done better. Well, in order to make such demands, you have to have some leverage. Let's imagine that negotiation. Canada. You must put in unbreakable delivery schedules and penalty clauses for failure to

perform or we won't buy your vaccines. Vaccine manufacturer. Okay, see you. Wouldn't want to be you. I think the manufacturers might find a few other countries to pick up the slack. The second is the demand that the government disclose the terms of the contracts. I can tell you that over nearly 40 years of negotiating agreements, I've seen many that include confidentiality clauses that prohibit disclosing the terms of the agreements. So while we can't be sure that this is the case in these procurement contracts, it would not be unusual. Holding the government to account for its performance

is an essential responsibility of the opposition parties and the press. Creating needless stress with baseless arguments in an already overly anxious time is not. I really enjoy the bridge. Happy to hear about your new SiriusXM show with Bruce and Chantel. All right, Gary, thank you. David Quayle writes, and David doesn't tell us where he's writing from, but this is what he has to say.

I like your observation that we have all become amateur epidemiologists based on our favorite information source. Who knows how and if the actions of various levels of government and procurement of medical supplies, including vaccines, could have been more effective. Not to say we shouldn't be shy to ask if it could have been better. And so I'm uneasy with the suggestion that we should be sanguine with end of September date for full vaccination while some others do better. Currently mortality is roughly 400 Canadians per week, not an epidemiologist, but the simple math to me is saddening.

All right, well David, you're absolutely bang on on that last point. I mean, we have somewhere around 400 Canadians dying every week still, even with the numbers having come down quite a bit in the last month. I mean, 67 Canadians died yesterday on just one day from COVID-19. You know, there were almost 90,000 new cases discovered yesterday. Positivity rate is, I'm sorry, I was wrong about that. The 90,000 was not new cases. The 90,000 were the number of tests done yesterday. And the positivity rate is 3.7% yesterday.

Now, that's not a bad rate. Anything under 5% is considered you're in a position where you're not going to have hospitals overcrowded. In terms of new cases yesterday, there were 3,300 new cases across the country yesterday. So sorry, I got those numbers jumbled up a bit. So David is right to point that out. The only point we were making about comparing us to other countries

was that end of July, Americans say they'll be, you know, everyone who wants vaccination will have had one. End of August, say the Brits. And end of September, say the Brits, and end of September, say Canadians. And part of the reason for that is the Americans and the Brits have the vaccine being made in their country. They have much better access to it than we do. Now, why don't we have our own vaccines being made here? Apparently they're going to be by the end of the year, but why don't we have our own vaccines being made here apparently they're going to be by the end of

the year but why don't we have it now that is a legitimate question and quite frankly i haven't heard the real answer to that yet i've heard a lot of different answers depending on which side of the political spectrum you're on as to whose fault it is that we don't have our own but that's going to be one of the many questions that's asked and has to be answered when the accountability session really swings into focus on the whole vaccine story. Here's another one. Mary Jane McIntyre from Collingwood, Ontario.

I heard Dr. Zane Chagla yesterday say he was optimistic. Zane was on our show a couple of days ago. More positive news today about the UK and USA finishing just weeks ahead of us. As a retired person with adequate pension income, I'm able to carry on at home. Do I want a haircut? Yes, but give the frontline grocery and food workers the next rollout, especially those at the distribution centers in Brampton and Mississauga and Alberta. Another month or two won't be hard on me. I know not to listen to the doomsayers who don't help anyone with their criticisms of the government decisions. Let the 80-year-old community dwelling people get their job, their jab too.

Then move on down by decade and disability we can do this stay calm and carry on thanks mary jane i do want to emphasize that while i have a lot of sympathy for that argument i still feel that there has to be an aggressive accountability session on vaccine rollout, whether it's to provinces, municipalities, or the federal government, as we continue to get closer to the end of this. It's really important that that's done. David Elgy, moving off vaccines now. My wife and I have listened to The bridge every day since its inception. It's

something we look forward to at the end of the day. I'm sure you hear that a lot. Yada, yada. Yeah, I hear it a lot. Yada, yada. Anyway, a favorite word of yours. That's the anyway. You know, somebody else mentioned that to me. Apparently I say this all the time. Anyway. You know how the... There's another one I do all the time. You know. I remember.

You know, we all have these faults, right? We have these situations where we have certain phrases that pop up into our conversation that we don't even realize we're saying. I can remember doing an interview with Prime Minister Harper. It would have been, I don't know, somewhere around 2009, 2010. We're doing this interview, and quite often when I'd ask a question, he'd start the answer by saying,

well, to be honest, Peter, I blah, blah, blah, blah. And it kept popping up. It was his anyway or you know. It was to be honest. So finally, when he said it on one answer, I stopped him, I said, you know, Prime Minister, I'm assuming you're always honest with me when you're answering your questions. And he looked at me in this kind of glare

because it was just a phrase that popped into his conversation. So he said, you know, he said, yes, of course. Of course I am. I'm always honest. And then we get to the end of the interview, and they're turning the cameras off, and he looks at me, and he says, well, you really got me on that. And he says, it's just, I said, I know.

I do the same thing. I do phrases. I just don't do that one. But you had said it so many times that I had to, you know, made sense to follow up. All I know is he didn't say it again in that interview. However, as opposed to anyway, let's get back to David's letter from Dorchester, Ontario, David's writing.

Many months ago on the podcast, you were speaking about the discovery of the Hms terror of the franklin expedition as an aside you recommended the book fatal passage which documents dr john ray's exploration of the canadian arctic in the early to mid-19 or 1800s and his search for the lost ships and men it's a great book fatal passage uhage it's written by Ken McGugan who's written a slew of books on Canada's Arctic history

any of them are great ones to read Dead Reckoning is a terrific book on the big picture Fatal Passage is really about John Ray who to me is the great Canadian hero, and most people probably never heard of him.

So if you're in the least bit interested in the history of our Arctic, and the search for the Franklin ships, and the search for John Franklin, you can read any Ken

Coogan book. But Fatal Passage is a great one. Dead Reckoning is the big picture of all the John Franklin. You can read any Ken Guggen book, but Fatal Passage is a great one. Dead Reckoning is the big picture of all the various historic voyages in Canada's Arctic, and it's terrific too. Anyway, back to David. I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the recommendation.

Incredible story and a fascinating piece of Canadian history, sure is. So it occurs to me, says David, that it would make an interesting podcast episode if you would put on your thinking cap and share with listeners the list of your top 10 non-fiction books, be they history or other.

Good idea. I'll tell you the problem with it for me is that I have a really narrow focus. First of all, history is what I enjoy the most. So most, you know, my nonfiction selections are all related to history and, and the two most, you know, if you looked in my little library here in my den in, uh, in Stratford, most of the books

are either about the second world war or they're about the Canadian Arctic. And, you know, a fair degree on Canadian politics as well. So I'm narrow-focused, right? And that's what you get in a top 10. But if you want to start, you know, you should go grab any Ken McGugan book if you want to read about the Arctic and if you want to read about the Second World War.

Well, especially with the Canadian angle, any of Tim Cook's books are terrific. But there are lots of them, you know. Jack Granatstein. There are all kinds of really solid, good books about Canadian history and as it relates to Second World War and the First World War. So, David, there's the answer for you on that.

And, of course, dare I mention Extraordinary Canadians, an excellent book, nonfiction, about Canada and about Canadians today. Who wrote that book? Let me look over here. Oh, I wrote that book. Me and Mark Bulgich. Great book.

Instant number one bestseller. Still selling apparently. You know, we put it out in the fall and it was a huge success leading up to Christmas, the post-holiday season. Of course, book sales come down somewhat, but they're still churning out Extraordinary Canadians. It's still selling, and I'm very impressed.

Emmy Penny writes from Pasadena, Newfoundland. We've heard from Emmy before. She runs a little store in Pasadena, Newfoundland, called Gifts of Joy. Hello, Peter. As you are aware, we are in lockdown once again in Newfoundland, Labrador. Saturday was the first day of getting back to online sales and curbside delivery, and I'm slowly adjusting to working without my staff once again.

The news of a new variant of COVID-19 in our province has left me a little uneasy. It's different this time. I think we're wearier and a little tired, but perhaps I'm speaking for myself only. I am close to your age after all. Ah, you're young. When we closed our shop from March to June of 2020, seems like years ago, we were in new uncharted territory. This time I know what to expect. So on one hand, I'm better prepared. On the other hand, I'm more concerned. Speaking with suppliers across the country, I hear those feelings echoed probably because it feels like this new virus is sneakier and smarter and is not backing down I'm hopeful and will remain optimistic we were doing so well for so long I think we all became a little complacent I've enjoyed listening to your podcast over the past many months I've laughed out loud

talked back to you as if you could hear me. And yes, I cried too. The latest podcast that evoked that emotion was your final letter last Friday. Mary Williams' dad's story. If you didn't hear it, you should go back and listen to it last Friday. The weekend special number 48.

You know, I'm not going to try to explain it here, but it's there there if you want to hear it it's really something there are so many of us who love your podcast peter you've been a comforting familiar constant in these trying times more than you know thank you for that stay safe emmy penny emmy let me tell you you have been the comforting constant and the familiar constant for me and for other listeners. All of you have been that. It's not about me. It's about you. Michael Cohen. No, not that Michael Cohen. A different Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen writes, I'm a new listener to the podcast via apple really enjoying the quality of the show i know on fridays you take questions but i realize i'm

sending it after this week's episode was completed michael wrote last weekend he's got a good question here in light of the ongoing lockdown here in toronto and businesses and organizations changing the way they do things i was wondering in the era of cyber crimes we live in, how safe is working from home on a personal computer? You know, that's a really good question, Michael. And I'm going to reach out to our friend Amber Mack and get an answer for you. And I'll try and find Amber this weekend to see if she can do something next week with us.

And we'll try and answer that question because I think it's a good question. I think it's a very good question. Neil Douglas Fraser. He writes from Edmonton. I'm a plumber in Edmonton and work on a large commercial job site, and quite honestly, it's not a safe space to work. There are multiple COVID infractions that get overlooked,

no social distancing. Even in some cases, there's no masking. Worst of all, coworkers coming into work with obvious symptoms and management looks the other way rather than properly enforcing the rules to avoid paperwork. Even a coworker of mine was to stay home and quarantine due to exposure of someone who tested positive, but has not and will not properly do so, putting us all at risk. Also, my fiancée is at high risk for COVID complications, and every day I go to work

and come back home, I feel like I'm putting her life at risk, which is something I cannot stand. You know, that's a sad letter, Neil. Neil's upset at his employer, he's upset at the government. And I think any of us who were caught in that situation, if it's as bleak as he just outlines, would feel that way too. I don't know whether you have a union, I don't know whether you have a work representative who deals directly with management, who can challenge them on this issue.

Because obviously, that is not the way to stop the spread, right? He's mad at the government of Alberta, and Jason Kenney in particular. Some people are mad at the federal government, and Justin Trudeau in particular. Some people are mad at the federal government, and Justin Trudeau in particular. I hope you get things sorted out there, Neil, because that's not a good situation to be in, and that is for sure. Catherine Daly. I run a lot. I run a lot. And to keep my brain occupied, I listen to podcasts. Last month, I was listening to Digging Deep, which is a different podcast.

And you were interviewed. Yeah, I was. They interviewed me about the bridge. I love the entire podcast. Of all the things you talked about, I'll never forget the toothbrush you found while in the Arctic. I've talked about this before, but it was a toothbrush that I found on King William Island when I was there on a dig with a couple of archaeologists from Nunavut who were looking for remnants of the Franklin expedition. And they had found a few things. And then I found this toothbrush, which has since been dated and confirmed to have belonged to one of the fellows

from the Terror of the Erebus who died, starved to death on King William Island. And that toothbrush, I'll never forget that toothbrush. I'll never forget that day. You recommended two books. I just finished reading Dead, she says Dead Awakening, it's Dead Reckoning.

What a book. I always had an atlas beside me to see where each ship went. That, once again, is a Ken McGoogan book. I'm telling you, that's the impact his books have on people who are, you've got to be interested in our Arctic history. If you are, you'll find these books fascinating. I'm now reading

Extraordinary Canadians. You explain things simply with excellent facts in the chapters. That's thanks to Mark Bulgich. Chapters don't go on and on. No, it's a fairly fast-paced book. I've just finished the first two stories about Cindy Blackstock, Gina Cody. Thank you, poor extraordinary Canadians.

Thank you, Catherine. All right. Still to come. You know what's still to come. The letter of the week. Was it yours? Mariam Rajabali writes from Kelowna, British Columbia, as we head into the final section of The Bridge for this weekend special, number 49. We're heading towards the letter of the week.

But first, this one from Mariam Rajabali in Kelowna, British Columbia. Although I do not believe the vaccine is the silver bullet, my biggest COVID question now is, why didn't Canada initially secure traditional types of vaccines from India? We have an arrangement with India right now. India is, as you quite correctly point out, the largest maker of vaccines in the world. Now, the one they're focusing on COVID is one,

initially anyway, the one that they were focusing on. It was not one that we determined we were interested in. That argument will play out, I'm sure, at some other time. Why did Canada focus only on Western-made vaccines? Well, actually, that's not true. We were very heavily involved with China on one of their vaccines, which we eventually determined,

and they determined that there was not going to be a deal there. China is involved with any number of different research projects that we have right now in different parts of the country at different universities and research facilities. So I don't think it's fair to say that we only focused on Western-made vaccines. But clearly, Pfizer and Moderna, like the Americans, like the British, like the French, like the Germans, like a lot of other people, those were the early contenders, the ones that they were focused on. You know, there's a lot of Russian vaccine out there.

None of these countries are taking the Russian vaccine because they have issues with it, apparently. And when you hear that we're, you know, running whatever it is, 59th in the world, on vaccine supply. Part of the reason is many of those other countries are using the Russian vaccine even though it's not being tested. Well, it's being tested, but it hasn't been gone through

the rigorous testing that the others have. On a different note, now that we'll finally be producing our own vaccines in Canada, and that's going to be eventually, why are we not refining our own oil? Actually, that's not entirely true either. There are oil refineries in Canada. They may not be refining as much oil as you'd like to see done, but they do exist. I mean, for starters, oil refineries depend, for the most part,

on being close to waterways because you're moving this oil, and you're usually moving it by big tankers. Well, there are not a lot of waterways in Alberta and Saskatchewan where a lot of Canadian oil exists. However, there are refineries in Alberta. There's, I think there's three by my count. Edmonton has three different ones. Lloyd Minster has a couple.

Saskatchewan, they've got a couple, one in Regina, one in Moose Jaw. So, you know, it's not entirely fair to say the West is shut out of refineries, just like it's wrong to conclude that in Atlantic Canada there are no refineries, because there sure are, that are either operating or have been in the past, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and St. John, Quebec, and Ontario,

including the birthplace of oil somewhere around Sarnia. There's a refinery in Sarnia. I mean the birthplace of Canadian oil. So, Mariam, your questions are good. There are some answers there. I mean, I think we'll kind of meet halfway on all of them because I think there's, you know, as I've explained, there is some answer to your questions,

but in the big picture, perhaps not. And then, Miriam, she doesn't stop there. She has, you know, half a dozen other questions about air travel. Why aren't we closing borders between provinces? That's a legitimate question. If we're closing them to outside countries, why aren't we closing them internally as well? The virus depends on movement.

Okay. Here's one from Colin Carmichael in Goderich, Ontario. I just want to let you know how much I enjoy hearing your stories from Fort Churchill. I was in Fort Churchill from 68 to early 71. Fort Churchill, Manitoba on the shores of Hudson Bay. There are two Churchills, or there were when I lived there, Fort Churchill, and then a couple of miles away there was Churchill. Fort Churchill is more or less where those who worked for the government in some fashion, you know, in Crown Corporations

or Department of Public Works or what have you. Then there was Ak kudlik which was the inuit village and then dene village which was the chippewan village and then there was churchill downtown churchill which was you know for the lack of a better description it was where those who worked in the private sector lived all within a couple of miles of each other but very distinct and different communities anyway colin has asking about fort churchill my mother lived there from 1960 to 64 so she was before me while my grandfather was the principal at duke of edinburgh school on the base it was a armed forces base right and it was a u.s air force base base at Churchill. Growing up in Montreal in eastern Ontario,

my sister and I learned to never complain about the winter cold or snow because we would be met immediately with, but let me tell you about real cold and snow, from their mother who'd been in Churchill. And man, it used to get cold, like really cold. Later in the 1960s, my mother's family spent two years in the Central African country of Malawi. So we were unable to complain about the heat of summer either.

Really enjoying the podcast, broadcast. That's right, it's both. And interested in seeing where it goes post-Trump and post-pandemic. Well, I think we're kind of into the post-Trump period. We're not into the post-pandemic period yet. But we are entering in the Canadian political cycle in a much bigger way than we have seen in the last year. So it's going to be a fascinating year ahead.

And then Colin puts a PS, I fact-checked this note with Mum, who reported that she is currently reading and enjoying Extraordinary Canadians. That mother of yours, she's one smart person. Having lived in Fort Churchill in the 60s, she knows a lot about life, let me tell you that. Okay, we have a winner. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner for the Letter

of the Week. And it comes, let's see whether she tells us where she's writing from. Yes, of course she does. It's Joanne Dunn from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. I'm going to read all of this letter because you'll understand fairly quickly. Remember I'm in Stratford, Ontario, home of the Stratford Festival, which was shut down last year and every indication is it ain't going to be doing too much of anything

this year. Joanne Dunn writes from Charlottetown, I imagine that Charlottetown PEI is a lot like Stratford, Ontario, in terms of size and cultural demographics. I'm sure you've heard of the Charlottetown Festival at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, home of the longest running musical and of Green Gables. Absolutely, of course I have. And I've been there many times to Charlottetown. The island is one of my favourite places. The summer of 2020 was a tough one for Charlottetown and the centre. The season was necessarily cancelled. No pre-dinner crowds, no post-theatre patrons spilling out to the street at 10.30. It's been difficult on our hospitality industry. Last weekend I attended a live performance at the Centre. It was a socially distanced cabaret style show featuring fabulous performers likely

familiar to Stratford stages who took refuge in the relative safety of PEI. It was so good to be back in the theatre. There were only 150 patrons in a 1,200-seat space, but the applause was as enthusiastic as if the space was full. With steadfast leadership and adherence to protocols, we have fared relatively well through COVID. In recent months, we have focused not on what we can do, but on how we can do things safely. We're not out of the woods, but our beloved long-term care patients have all been vaccinated, as well as many frontline health care workers. Residents over 80 have appointments for both first and second shots

to be completed by the end of March. Dr. Morrison, I think it's Dr. Heather Morrison, who's the chief medical health officer, is it, in Prince Edward Island? I think so. She has a list, and we'll continue to work our way down that list. All this is to say it's been a tough slog at times, but there are many signs of hope for a return to whatever normal will be. Keep the faith.

Wear a mask or two. Wash your hands. Maintain your space. And as Dr. Morrison says, be kind. Thanks, Joanne. I love that letter because it's got a spirit of resilience to it, right? An understanding of the situation. I mean, you're right.

PEI has done things right, and it's benefited from being an island and being able to restrict access. But, you know, I look at the chart right now and there's like one case, one case in the whole province. And, you know, the record for PEI has been, you know, it's been spectacular. Spectacular. The scene you describe at the art center, because that's what it's going to be like.

I mean, Stratford is toying with this idea of trying to do something this summer if things progress on the vaccine front and the caseload front of maybe setting up a tent, which was the original way the Stratford Festival started back in the early 1950s. Setting up a big tent and trying to do a very, you know, loosely attended theater season. I don't know whether that'll happen. You hear stories about that's the plan or that's the hope.

But you're a lot better off than we are, obviously, with the way things have gone in Charlottetown, and that you are already trying this out, I think is great. And I think it's fabulous. And I think any one of us who are listening right now would trade places with you in a heartbeat to go in and watch what was, I guess, a cabaret-style show at the Center of the Arts, right in downtown

Charlottetown. Not far from a number of great little restaurants that I've been in over the years, which I don't know what they're doing now, whether they're closed or open, whether they're doing takeout, what they're doing. But of course, what are you going to eat in PEI? I mean, God, there's nothing special to eat in PEI. Right.

Oh, for a lobster. Oh, for some Malpec oysters. Ah, yes. We love the island. All right, that's going to wrap it up for this week, for another week of the weekend special. Number 49. Number 50 next week.

And also the debut of Good Talk with Chantelle Hebert and Bruce Anderson. Can't wait for that. That's next Thursday. As I said, early next week. And also the debut of Good Talk with Chantel Hébert and Bruce Anderson. Can't wait for that. That's next Thursday. And as I said, early next week, I'll give you some sense of the best way to access that broadcast on SiriusXM, channel 167.

So listen, have a great weekend. Take the advice of Dr. Heather Morrison. Be kind and do all the other things that we talk about every week that we've got to keep doing. But, you know, if you get a chance to get outside, get some fresh air, have a walk, that would be good for you in any number of different ways. All right. I'm Peter Mansbridge.

This has been The Bridge. Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you again on Monday.