The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #58

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Your letters, comments and questions - on everything from vaccines to Bruce Springsteen to journalism's core values! Quite the mix.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge, where it is Friday, and that means the weekend special. Like you, I have been so grateful and so thankful for frontline workers during the COVID crisis. Let's just talk about the frontline workers at SickKids, which is one of the world's best children's hospitals. SickKids doctors also work behind the scenes

on incredible breakthroughs to help our kids and generations to come. Listen to their inspiring stories in a new season of the popular podcast called SickKids Versus. Each episode explores a major SickKids discovery, like, well, a virus-fighting super molecule or a cure for

hard-to-treat cancers. Just visit SickKidsFoundation.com slash podcast or search SickKids versus and spell versus VS. So SickKids VS. You'll be amazed at what you learn. It's Friday. It's April 30th. That means tomorrow is May 1st. Wow, I can read a calendar. But even more wow, it's May. It's going to be the May 1st weekend. You got to love it.

If that doesn't put sort of, I don't know, a little bounce in your step, in spite of everything, it's May. We're going to get through this. Man, think ahead a month, 1st of June. We're going to be flying. I'm convinced of it. I am pumped. I'm ready for this. All right.

Weekend special time means your letters, your thoughts, your ideas, your comments, whatever they may be. And we're getting things started with an email from Albert Versteeg from Grimsby, Ontario. From the famous Versteeg from Grimsby, Ontario,

from the famous Versteeg family. Are they famous? They must be famous. Wasn't there a Versteeg who played for the Leafs for a while? NHL player? I don't know whether they're from the same family or not, but whatever. Albert Versteeg in Grimsby writes this, and I think he writes this in response to our Smoke Mirrors and the Truth

the other day when Bruce and I were talking about the different things that are needed in a good speech and some of the things that aren't needed. And one of the points we made, we talked a little bit about mannerisms and mannerisms that can be distracting. Anyway, Albert writes, I used to push up my glasses all the time, not realizing how that looked. One time, making a speech at an all-employee meeting, pictures were taken, which were later published in our employee magazine which as

a matter of course was sent to our dealers and to headquarters in chicago i received a call from my boss in chicago asking why i gave the finger to my audience on the front page of the magazine was yours truly pushing up his glasses with his middle finger. Needless to say, I stopped wearing glasses when in front of an audience since they were for distance only anyway. That's funny. Daniel Rao from Calgary. Here's what he has to say. Lately, one of the topics on the podcast has been vaccine hesitancy i wanted

to share something i'm choosing to do because maybe it'll help someone else to make a decision this week my employer gave me a blood antibody test i was the first person to test positive for antibodies at work which was kind of exciting. The test I was given was not the lab test. It was the instant test kit. So I do not know what my antibody level is. Five months ago, I had COVID. While I had a relatively mild case of it, I don't want to repeat the process. I just want to point out here that the reason I got it is not because I wasn't following the rules. It happened because I went into a thrift store and chose to ignore the fact that several people present were not masked up. My swift response at isolating means that I

did not pass COVID to any of my close contacts. I'll be getting my first shot this week. I'm very excited about it. I've had quite a few people ask, why am I getting the shot if I'm already shown to have antibodies? The medical community still doesn't know how long the antibodies last. The last time I heard, doctors thought immunity would last about six months. I also don't know how many antibodies I have, so worst case, this is sort of like a booster shot. I'm encouraging people to share their vaccination stories because like you, I believe this is the best way to convince the skeptics to get the shot themselves. Thank you for doing the podcast, Peter. I'll continue to listen through SXM, through Sirius. That's great, Daniel, and good for you.

And yes, I'm a big vaccine advocate. There's no question about that. I'm getting involved in a number of areas on promoting vaccine because I think this next month or two is critical and very important, especially with the ages coming down now in terms of availability, that we've got to do our best to ensure that as many people get vaccines as possible. Got to get those numbers up.

All right, who's this one from? It's from Vaughn Stewart. And Vaughn is in St. Catharines, Ontario. While listening to your Tuesday podcast, I perked up when you mentioned malaria and the progress towards a vaccine. About two years ago, remember malaria is a parasite. It's not a virus.

About two years ago, I happened to listen to author Timothy C. Weingart on The Agenda on TVO. That's Steve, my buddy, Steve Bacon's show. He'd written a book called The Mosquito, A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator. It tweaked my interest since I'm a survivor of West Nile virus, another mosquito-transferred disease. Here's a quote from his book. The mosquito has killed more people than any other cause of death in human history. Statistical exploration situates mosquito-infected deaths approaching half of all humans that have ever lived. In plain numbers, the mosquito has dispatched an estimated 52 billion people, from a total of 108

billion throughout our relatively brief 200,000 year existence. Now that is something I did not know. Vaughn's letter goes on. Sorry, I just dropped the page. Kind of drifted across the room. I had to go get it. I know you like history, and this book looks at the impact of the mosquito

and the viruses it transmits on events that impacted the history of the world. It sure reminds me of the impact of diseases on humans and how we've adapted and evolved over time to deal with them. Thank you, Vaughn and St. Catharines. Ron Fisher writes, I read this article in the Guardian that I find very concerning regarding vaccine supply and how the global rollout is going. This article has a significant Canadian angle, and I would hope you could shine a light on

this because we need a wartime effort to get this job done. Business as usual will not get us out of this pandemic. And he includes a link. Now, I'm not going to read the whole article, but I will tell you what it's about. The concern here in the article, and obviously it's a concern shared by Ron, is that because of patents, the drug companies are not releasing the formulas for their drugs to the wider world,

and therefore generics can be made. Now, this is a common argument in the drug business, but why can't we get therefore generics can be made now this is a common argument in the drug business but why can't we get to generics faster part of the reason is the drug companies invest millions if not billions of dollars in some cases on drugs they don't all work and that's money lost. So they're trying to obviously at least break even, if not make a little bit of profit. So that's part of the thing in a general way at a normal time. This isn't normal.

We're in a very particular circumstance where governments have poured billions into the drug companies to help them develop the vaccines that are being used around the world right now. So the argument becomes, okay, seeing as the government's invested all this money, why can't we be making more vaccines by, you know, breaking down the patent issue and having the generic companies make the vaccines. It's a legitimate argument. It's one that should be put to the political leaders who could have a say in all this. But there are two sides to this story. Don't ever

forget that in terms of what these companies have invested to try and do this and come up with vaccines in an extremely short period of time. The malaria story is a classic example of just how long it's taken. We seem to be on the verge of a vaccine on malaria. And if that happens, it's going to end centuries of trying to find a way to combat malaria. Centuries. We're literally having dealt on this front basically in days, weeks, and, to come up with a vaccine. And not only just one, there are half a dozen or more different vaccines out there. Four of them are approved in Canada, three in the States,

different numbers in different places around the world. And as I said yesterday on Good Talk with Chantel and Bruce, that's an issue when you get around to this discussion about vaccine passports to travel around the world. Well, I might have a vaccine passport based on the fact that I had an AstraZeneca shot, but there are some countries, like our neighbors to the south, that don't accept, at least not yet, AstraZeneca. They haven't approved it.

It's not available in their country. So will that have an impact on my vaccine passport, if that's something that I end up having? Here we go with Megan Peekvout, who's an elementary music teacher at the Mike Mountain Horse School in Lethbridge, Alberta. Great name for a school. I'm a teacher from Lethbridge, Alberta, and I had the pleasure of hearing your keynote address

at our teachers' convention a few years ago. You were informative, entertaining, and I enjoyed hearing your stories and perspectives on the extraordinary Canadians you've met. I find your podcast to be equally enjoyable and make the time to listen to it as often as I can. That's very nice, Megan. I appreciate all those kind words. The daily news during this pandemic often leaves me with questions that increase my anxiety

and are difficult to find accurate on consistent answers to. Over the past few months, it seems that whatever questions are on my mind, the answers are to be found on your program for example after receiving my AstraZeneca vaccine last week I've been wondering about how effective a single dose is and your Monday podcast addressed exactly that how is it that you always seem to know? I appreciate the diversity of your guests and experts and the perspectives and information they contribute to your podcast. If it's apparent from your questions that you are genuinely interested, or it is, not if it is, it is that you're genuinely interested in what they have to say, You give them a chance to say it.

Well, I certainly try to do that. And the reason we have guests on the show is because they know what they're talking about. And usually I do not. So that's the great advantage of having guests on the show. But how do I come up with some of these questions well I come up with some of them from you like this one Victor Victor Woolhouse in Toronto writes this hi Peter I have a question you might pose when next you have the opportunity to speak with the excellent infectious disease specialist you have interviewed especially in light of the fact you like myself got an az shot i'm wondering if there

is any likelihood of developing a blood clot issue after the second shot if as most people everything was fine after the first one is it a condition that you either have or is it something that can still be triggered that's good that's a good question vict. And the next time I have one of our people on, which will probably be Monday's program, I'll ask that question because it's a good one. Now, I see, I see, I see, I said, I see, I see, I said. I said the AZ vaccine. Where we say Zed, not Z, right, Peter? So it's the AZ vaccine, AstraZeneca vaccine.

AZ would be what they call it in the States, right? You fussy about that? Those kind of pronunciations? Boy, when I was back in the centuries ago, when I was doing the National, if I said A-Z, if I said something about Z instead of Zed, I would get 50 letters

from all over the country by those who would say, Peter, this is Canada. We say Zed, not Z. I'm going to take a break in a sec, but I have another vaccine question or letter. So let's read it. It comes from Phil Bowman in London, Ontario. As a 39 year old that's very pro vaccine, I find it frustrating reading news

articles regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine. Many of my friends and family members are not anti-vaccine, but as you say, they are vaccine hesitant. And it's stories like this that fuel their skepticism about this and all vaccines. However, even with this gentleman's very concerning outcome, I still believe the conclusion should still be to get any vaccine you can get your hands on. I find it very hard to convince people that the risks of vaccines are the same or less than things they do every day. I realize that it's everyone's own choice, but I feel like they aren't looking at the data properly, and headlines splashed at the top of news sites don't help. Any tips for dealing with friends and family members who are hesitant

but choose to cherry-pick their own facts? And Phil attaches a letter or a website or a link to a website where there's concerns about, you know, the blood clot issue. Now, you know, it's an important issue and it's a good issue. Now, you know, it's an important issue and it's a good issue. Look, for starters, Phil, and I don't think you're arguing with this, for starters, I believe very strongly that if you are putting anything into your body, whether it's food or a vaccine, you better be comfortable with what it is that's going into your body. You better know what it is that's going into your body

before you allow that to happen. That the ultimate responsibility on this is yours. Now, you can place your decision on the advice of people you trust, on what you've read, what you've seen, what you've read, what you've seen, what you've heard. But you want to spend some time thinking about it. And when you do, and you hear and see these things that are reported

on some news sources, that's an important distinction. I've said this many times before, let me say it again. The media is not a monolith. Not all news organizations operate the same way. Not all news organizations splash things across either their front page or the top of their newscast with abandon. Some do. The good ones don't. with abandon. Some do.

The good ones don't. And you have to make a choice as to who you trust in the news business to help inform you. That's important. But the basic strength of your decision making often comes down to common sense.

Read as much as you can from intelligent, responsible sources and use your own common sense to make your decision. It shouldn't be because, you know, a neighbor of yours said, oh, you can't trust this, you can't trust that. It should be because, you know, a neighbor of yours said, oh, you can't trust this, you can't trust that. It should be because you've decided you can or cannot trust something.

You have to do a bit of work on this too, because you are injecting in your body something. Now, I became 100% comfortable with the idea of vaccines and the idea of the vaccines on this issue to deal with covet 19 because of the testing process that was going on because of the stringent rules that were in place to deal with the testing. And when there was a pause on something, I didn't mind that. I was comfortable with that. I would prefer that they went, wait a minute, we just want to check this one more time. And that's good.

I have no problem with that. I don't see that as a negative. I see it as a positive. But that's me. That's me using my common sense. So all I do is encourage you to use yours. Okay, we're going to take a quick break and then we'll come back. There were a lot of vaccine-related letters and

comments this week and um i think that's most of them so but there are other things and some of them are pretty interesting and some of them are pretty good we'll be back with them right after this are you still trying to find ways to get into the world of crypto? Well, look no further. Bitbuy is Canada's number one platform for buying and selling Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitbuy has launched a brand new app and website with a new look, lower fees, and new coins. Bitbuy is your one-stop shop to get involved and super easy to use for beginners. Visit bitbuy.ca or download the Bitbuy app. Enter referral code PODCAST20 to get involved and super easy to use for beginners. Visit bitbuy.ca or download the Bitbuy app. Enter referral code podcast20 to get $20 free when you make your first deposit.

Hello, Peter Mansbridge here once again with the second half, roughly, of The Bridge. For this Friday, it's the weekend special, so that means your thoughts and comments and questions from the emails you submitted to themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. Hope you're going to have a great weekend. And some of you may be listening to this already during the weekend. So let's get right into it. First one for this segment of the program comes from Canada, Ontario. Michelle Dextra.

Or Dextras. I think it's dextro. But I could be wrong. Anyway, Michelle writes, your piece on YOLO. Remember YOLO? This was just yesterday, the Thursday podcast. Was it Thursday?

YOLO. Blur's day, right? Every day is a blur. I can't keep track. I don't know whether you can or not anyway i think it was yesterday we talked about yolo yolo was that that phrase that came out of a drake song from 10 years ago yolo you only live once and the article that we were referring to when we did YOLO on the podcast

was about these very successful young people saying, you know what? The pandemic's taught me that you only live once. Got to enjoy it. Here I'm busting my butt. I'm earning good money. I got a great job, but you know what? There's more to life than this.

I'm going to take some time because yolo all right so michelle writes your piece on yolo took me back to our decision my husband and i to take a break from our hectic life in 1985 we'd been married 15 years at that point we had a 10 year old son we bought a house, and we were both working hard. We decided we needed a break. YOLO. So we sold our house. We put everything we did not want to sell in storage and took off for Europe as soon as school was finished in June.

We had access to a Volkswagen camper, and we spent a year traveling. It was an excellent decision. We visited 11 countries. We had access to a Volkswagen camper and we spent a year traveling. It was an excellent decision. We visited 11 countries. Our son spent seven months in a village school in France learning grammar and literature he would have learned in high school here. French is our mother tongue. And we relaxed. Our friends thought we were crazy.

And certainly, financially, we took a hit. But it was well worth it. You only live once. YOLO. If you can shake it up, do it. And I guess that's the big question. If you can shake it up. But man, that takes courage. It takes courage. It takes courage to do what you did, Michelle. And obviously, it paid off for you and your family. You obviously still look back all these years later

and say this was a great thing we did. And I think a lot of people would love to do what you did, but it's having that courage to actually do it. And rearrange your life, leave what you've got going for you to do this. So I envy you. You know, often I thought of that in my life. Now I'm in my 70s. I'm still working. I'm working because I don't need to, but I love it. I enjoy doing this.

But we're, in a way, we're kind of looking at doing something along these lines because we have this little project we're involved with in Scotland. While we'll never leave Canada, and Canada is our home, Scotland is like a second home. And we're going to be, hopefully, if this thing ever ends, we'll get a chance to get back over there, see how things are working out. Here's one from Cora Ducek.

I'm not sure on the pronunciation here, Cora. I'm a cap on the pronunciation here, Cora. I'm a cap-half-full girl. My tendency to look for the positives can grate on a lot of nerves, but often it's my coping mechanism. While I miss my co-workers, I don't miss office drama, and working from home has made having shingles more convenient. I don't know how anything can make shingles convenient. I've had shingles.

I guess you always have it. That's it, having control of it. My daughter missed her first year of in-person university experiences, but online classes gave us another year with her at home. I'm disappointed that my son isn't having the grade 12 year with sports and school trips he could have and possibly no graduation ceremony but we sure saved money

school sports were our social life so this affects us parents too some days it's harder to find the silver linings and we need to sit in the tough feelings for a bit but there's always something to be thankful for practice looking for those things something to be thankful for. Practice looking for those things that we're thankful for. Cora writes from Rosenort,

Manitoba. That's south of Winnipeg. Cora says 45 minutes south of Winnipeg. Boy, it must be almost at the Manitoba-North Dakota border. Matthew Smith, North York, Ontario. I've been an avid listener of The Bridge since its inception, and I really enjoyed your feature on The Boss.

Yeah, we talked about bruce springsteen the other day a little bit the first ever cd that was brought into my household was bruce springsteen's greatest hits from 1995 when i was 16 from then on in i was hooked to his music as an avid concert goer i was surprised it took me until 2012 to see him live in show at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. It was a concert for the record books. A four-hour long performance by him and the E Street Band was spectacular. Springsteen even crowd surfed a couple of times too. Where does he find the adrenaline to do this?

I saw him in concert two more times after that, and he and the E Street Band were just as remarkable as they were the first time I saw them. When we're able to go to concerts again, I highly recommend seeing the boss do his thing. Also, check out his Spotify podcast with Barack Obama called Born in the USA. Like yours, it's terrific. Also, check out his Spotify podcast with Barack Obama called Born in the USA. Like yours, it's terrific.

Yep. The bridge. Just like the boss and the president. No, theirs is a great podcast. Good fun. Two really smart guys. And two guys who know how to hold an audience. Thanks for that, Matthew.

Theodore Cook. He writes, let me see, where's Theodore from? It doesn't look like he tells us. Got to remember, you know, tell me where you're writing from. But Theodore Cook, well, he seems to go to Trent University, so he's Ontario. Theodore writes, I like those five core values of journalism. Do you know of any research on how well journalists themselves adhere to those principles? Most of the criticisms I've encountered about the

major media outlets has been that they present opinions as if they're facts. I'd love to find any similar research done on how well these corporations distinguish between facts and opinion, present balanced opinions, and how many journalists believe their mission is simply to convey the facts rather than being an advocate for one point of view or another. Personally, I've found the major outlets to be no better than the so-called fringe or smaller, newer outlets at this. And then Theodore goes on quite a bit on this front.

Let me say this again. Everybody's different. Media is not a monolith. News organizations often operate differently, and they may have different core principles about the way they do their work. But that discussion we were having last week on core values is a generalization of where most responsible news organizations come down on in terms of their core values. And the beauty of that article was that it suggested that a lot of people,

a lot of their readers and listeners and viewers, have different set of core values than the journalists do, which is something to keep in mind. On this issue of, you know, opinion versus fact, I've said it before, I'll say it again, you should be able to distinguish. You should make your decisions about what you read and listen to and watch based on what you've seen. Is there kind of news feed littered with opinion?

Well, then maybe you don't want that. But is opinion held separately from their news reporting? In other words, is their news reporting, their basic journalism, pure? That it's just laying out the facts for you to decide yourself what you want to think and that their opinion pieces wherever they may be in the paper or on the air are separated from their news that's important that gives you a choice it's fine to be able to listen to opinion it's good it provokes discussion and debate. That's okay. I have no problem with that.

Just don't mess the news up with it. You know, listen, journalists aren't neutered at birth. They do have feelings and opinions but they you know they keep them out of their reporting of the day's news the basic facts i mean there are always going to be some stories where you can't separate it's not a sort of on the one hand on the other hand because there is no other hand you were there you witness the story you know exactly what happened and you tell it the way you saw it, based on the information you've gathered. But generally, as I've said, there should be a separation between news and opinion.

And if there isn't, well, you might be wanting to look somewhere else for your information. Mike Thornton writes from Paris, Ontario. I was listening to your Tuesday, April 27th podcast regarding Bruce Springsteen and the use of his song Born in the USA at Trump rallies. I'm not sure if you've checked this out. Maybe your listeners would like to know. Spotify has a new eight-part podcast called

Renegades Born in the USA that features Bruce and President Barack Obama. They discuss their lives, music, and love for America. In the last episode, Bruce talks about Born in the USA and what he was thinking when he wrote it, as you explained about the war in Vietnam, among other things. It's a great listen. I find both men truly some of the most inspirational people I know of. I'm currently enjoying Obama's latest book, Promised Land. The podcast name Renegade refers to Obama's code name,

given to him by the Secret Service, and born in the USA, obviously, comes from Springsteen's song. Great plug here, Mike, for Springsteen, because he needs it. You know, those record sales, man, that must be tough, man, trying to make a living selling the odd record. And Obama, too, it's tough for him.

And, you know, he and I were head-to-head in book sales for about a minute last fall. And then suddenly he was selling 1.8 million books in his first week. And I was very pleased to know that I was at the top of the Canadian nonfiction list. It was sales somewhere, I think it's somewhere around 40,000. But hey, you got to take the plug. So Obama and Springsteen, they get the big plug.

Thanks to Mike in Paris, Paris, Ontario. But I'm sure they're going to do the same for me. Their next podcast, they'll be talking about the bridge and extraordinary Canadians. No doubt about it. But I agree, Mike, no problem. It's a great podcast and a great book. Robert Podlasik.

I can't see where. No, he's in Calgary, I think. No, maybe not. I'm not sure. Today, I was most interested in your podcast regarding journalistic core values and their ability to meet the core values of the audience. I read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times every day. Plus, I read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times every day, plus a large number of internet news sites, including Real Clear Politics. I did not know that journalists had

core values. I should say that Rob is a recently retired college professor in the States. He's got 36 years of experience as a prof. 26 years experience as the assistant dean of the States. He's got 36 years of experience as a prof. 26 years experience as the assistant dean of the college. He listens to the bridge while he's taking drives in his home state of, where are we here, Illinois? I think so. And because he tunes in channel 167 on SiriusXM.

So that's the Canada channel. That's where he listens to the bridge. Yeah, he's in central Illinois. My county and most counties in central Illinois voted for Trump in the last election, also having strong family ties in Chicago. I'm well aware how to steal elections in the USA by intimidation. Given my research and academic background, I realize that models and projections are not reality.

This theme has been the subject of several recent Wall Street Journal articles. All empirical measurements have an error band that is rarely covered in the news. I'm not going to argue with that. I think you're probably right about that. On your question about core values, it comes down to what I just said a few minutes ago. If you believe in the institution you're getting your news from, and the institution you may be getting opinion from too, if you believe in them, then the odds are they probably

do have a set of core values. And I would assume that that set probably reflects a lot of what we were talking about when we did this original program on core values and journalism remember um robert lockhart we had him on as a guest bruce and i on smoke mirrors and the truth about a month maybe two months ago when we were talking about the move away from carbon energy to electric energy. And we were talking mainly about cars. Well, Robert gave us an idea that we very well may follow up on. Robert wrote from his home north of Peterborough, Ontario. This article was sent to me by a retired Air Canada pilot. It tells the story about the beginning of electrified flight in Canada,

with the first de Havilland Beaver to be fitted with an electric motor and batteries. Harbour Air Seaplanes out of Vancouver wants to electrify their entire fleet of 40 aircraft that carry 500,000 passengers and freight per year. The flight was successful, and they are awaiting Transport Canada approval to use it for commercial flight. Imagine how quiet the cockpit and the cabin will be. The airline is eyeing big cost savings in fuel and maintenance over the life of each aircraft.

That sounds like it's worth following up, Robert. I'll probably try and reach these people in the next week or so and see whether it's worth having a chat. Electric aircraft. Just the thought of that, you know. You're right. It would be very quiet on board that plane. Here is a first. I believe it's a first.

For the Bridge Weekend Edition. A number of people have tried to write more than one letter a week. I've always resisted the temptation of doing, reading those, both, on the air. But this week, that comes to an end.

Because from Paris, Ontario, Mike Thornton writes a second letter this week. And it gets read. I'm a pilot based out of Toronto, or YYZ. As we say in the airline business. YOW.

That's Ottawa. Where's YYQ? Come on, Mike, where's YYQ? You're sitting there. Don't look it up. YYQ is Churchill, Manitoba. And I know that because I must have put thousands of baggage tags with YYQ on them when I was working as a baggage handler in Churchill, Manitoba in 1968.

Anyways, Mike says, I'm a pilot based out of YYZ and know that Toronto Pearson Airport has its own apiary of bees. Mike was inspired to write because I was talking about beekeeping around airports in the States and how it was becoming the thing to do. So Mike says, if you happen to be walking along the Etobicoke Creek Trail that runs along the western edge of the Pearson Airport property, you can find the YYBZ Apiary in the southwest corner of the airport property just off Convair Drive. You can even find it on Google Maps.

They're also on the Pearson International website and a hashtag YYBs on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I've seen the folks from YYZ handing out honey at some events in the past. All right. So I wonder how many other airports in Canada have apiaries as well. Because clearly it's a great area to be raising bees and making honey. So go to the Pearson Airport website and do a little hunting around. You'll find the YYB, like B-E-E-Z, or YYB's Apiary.

And it's got a whole, I checked it out yesterday, there's everything you want to know about bees, airports, honey, you name it, it's all in there. Thanks, Mike. The first two-time winner of a letter to the bridge. First two times times same week. It's kind of like Austin Matthews getting a hat trick.

Man, he's something. Him and Connor McDavid. I tell you. Yeah, they must have been looking at some of my old videos. All right, our last letter of the week, of this week, comes from Penelope Stone in Edmonton, Alberta.

On Monday's podcast, you sounded a little exasperated with all the different information we're getting about COVID. We get it from all sides. Doctors, scientists, pollsters, politicians, celebrities, and on and on and on. We're all tired of the situation, to say the least. But I came across a quote that helps put things in perspective. And it sure does. It's one we can all keep in mind this weekend, right?

Nothing in this wicked world is permanent, not even our troubles. You know who said that? You know who said that? Charlie Chaplin. Nothing in this wicked world is permanent, not even our troubles. That's a good thought to have

as we head into this weekend. April 30th is this day, Friday. May 1st, May 2nd, Saturday and Sunday. We're into May of 2021. Come on. We're getting there. Stay strong. Stay safe.

Be kind. I'm Peter Mansbridge. This has been The Bridge. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you again on Monday.