The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #62

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

Your letters, comments and questions on everything from the Olympics, to work-from-home, to tipping, to a great idea from France.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Friday. It's the weekend special. 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 $20 free when you make your first deposit. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. Weekend special time. Before we get started with your thoughts and letters and comments and questions, I'll just say this. You know, for the last week or so, I've been saying, it is a best of seven series. Don't get ahead of yourself. Don't't get ahead of yourself.

Don't anybody get ahead of themselves. And I guess that was one of the great things about the Thursday night game. Is neither side got ahead of themselves or behind themselves. They never gave up. One side even down three, nothing. Came back, tied it. All the momentum seeming to be on their side. But the other side in this case came back and won it in overtime.

What more could you ask for than a Toronto-Montreal series that seems to be heading down to the wire? Just when you think one team is out of it, that team comes back. Hey, it's good for hockey. It's good for us. It gives us something different to be thinking about

these days. So I don't mind it. I don't mind how long it takes before one side ends up the victor. Obviously, I'm cheering for one particular side, but I'm just enjoying it all. It's been a long time

since we've had this series. Okay. Onward and upward with your comments and questions, et cetera, et cetera. Quick reminder, get lots of letters here at the bridge. Always remember to leave your name and where you're writing from. Gives a sense of, you know, where we're hearing from in the country. Sometimes we have repeat letter writers.

We've got a couple again this week. But it always gives me great joy to hear from somebody new. So don't be shy, as I've said often before. Don't read the entirety of each letter. Sometimes just a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Letters have been getting longer recently, which makes it difficult to have a wide selection. So we try to do that.

Okay, let's get started. No particular order, as usual. I usually try to say something special, or at least special to me, to the end. Okay, first one comes from Scott Creaser. He's in Huntsville, Ontario. And if you know Ontario, you know Huntsville. It's up in the Muskokas, and it's a gorgeous part of the province. Forgive me, Peter, for I may potentially be a hypocrite.

Oh, we all have those moments. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to you suggesting that although the golf games for which you yearned were safe, our province would be better off if everyone just stayed home. I said I was wanting to be out on my kayak, but was choosing to abstain for the betterment of all. Must be a busy lake you're on. Now I have to confess feelings of the rationalization. I find myself thinking statements starting with the following, well, if I just, I will be extra careful. There won't be anyone around. If golfers can golf, then surely. Well, with the weather improving and the water temperatures warming, I believe I'm close to giving in. One of the things I've loved about my kayak jaunts to various lakes around Muskoka is

the first push off, the first time the boat is floating. It's those first few strokes with the Greenland paddle I carved last spring as a COVID project, and it's the anticipation of what's to come just beyond the bow. My mind keeps returning to this feeling. Time will tell if I give in to temptation. In spite of my hypocrisy, I hope guilt won't reduce the exhilaration I feel at the beginning of every excursion. Who knows? Maybe I won't think about it at all. Scott Creaser. Scott, if you're still holding on, I don't think it's going to be long now. Dr. Jane Rusnak, who writes occasionally to us and has been quite prolific in the last, I don't know, month or so,

on various issues surrounding the pandemic and how we treat ourselves and treat others during the pandemic. This week, she has a fairly lengthy letter on the issue of schools and return to classes, which is something she's clearly not in favor of right now. So I'm just going to read the conclusion to her letter this week from St. Catharines, Ontario. Why risk rising COVID cases again in a fourth wave in July? Why can't we just see this wave through to the end so that we can hopefully have a more normal summer? Wouldn't it be nice to have many more people with first vaccinations and more with second doses and with COVID case

numbers significantly lower. There would then be a chance that kids could do summer sports and day camps, many of which are outdoor based and have fun. Parents and kids alike would get a much needed break and rejuvenate over the summer such that we can start back in September stronger than ever. We all need a safer, fun, restorative summer as COVID will likely have a resurgence again in the fall or winter and we need to physically and emotionally recharge in order to cope. Dr. Jane with her thoughts. Which fall in line with the, it ain't over yet, folks. If we're going to push hard now, we will reap the benefits later.

And I think there's a fair degree of agreement on that front, although there are clearly others who would like to see things open up a little more than they have so far. Different provinces have different rules, as we know. A lot of reopening plans are out there, are being announced this week, not for immediate reopening, but for reopening with certain conditions later in the summer. And I think in many ways that's exactly what Dr. Jane's suggesting. All right, Don Katsak writes from Iqaluit in Nunavut. Very short letter. I'm fully vaccinated now and I have a card to prove it. I just saw something on social media that a person found someone else's vaccination card on the ground.

Most likely it was dropped by accident. The person who found it is looking for the owner. I hope she gets it back soon. And I wondered, if I need to travel in the future, do I need that card? Listen, if you were given a card or a piece of paper, I would, first of all, I'd copy it a few times so I'd have copies of it. Second, if you don't have an actual card, make a card out of your vaccination confirmation slip.

That's what I did. I just put some thin cardboard backing on the card, and I have it in my wallet like a credit card. But in terms of a vaccination passport, that hasn't happened yet, at least on an official nationwide basis. Will it happen? It's a really good subject for discussion.

And we're going to have that discussion next week with a former privacy commissioner who has some thoughts about where this may be leading, this whole issue of vaccination passport. So look for that early next week, probably Monday or Tuesday. We'll be having that discussion. So, Don, you may need a card in the future. But in the meantime, you can make up a basic, hey, I've had my vaccination, slip a paper,

if in case you think you need it or it will help you in terms of where you travel to or where you go. This talk, you know that movie theaters are going to need some kind of proof. Public transportation may need some kind of proof. Air travel may need proof. So, it's an interesting discussion, as I said, and we're going to have it next week. Here's an interesting one from Barb Demaree in Vancouver. After over a year of listening to The Bridge every day,

I was inspired to create my own podcast. It's called What's Next? Conversations with Boomers. The trailer's up now on Spotify, and episode one will air next week. Now, I don't usually promote other podcasts, because there are thousands, tens of thousands of podcasts out there. But I thought it was kind of neat that somebody who listens to The Bridge was inspired to start their own.

And I think good for them. And good luck, Barb, on your show. What's next? Conversations with boomers. That's us. conversations with boomers that's us we're boomers katherine clark writes from mississauga last year when we discussed the possibility of shutting the office and working from home i was a in a bit of a panic the only work surface I had was the kitchen table,

so bad for many reasons. If I was going to work from home for a few hours before or after because of an appointment, I had to plan well in advance what project I would work on and make sure I had the docs with me. Computer access was available, but it wasn't great and I hate reading off the screen. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage. But go home we did and computer access was figured out quite quickly. Our company did a good job of getting everyone set up. I repurposed an old desk and set it up in front of the patio door for the window view.

Then I discovered that I could keep the same start time, get a little extra sleep, and even squeeze a walk-in before starting work. I also enjoyed dinner at a normal hour with my family. My commute was one and a half hours one way on the go, and while I used to call that me time, where I could read, knit, or sleep, yep, I got good at waking up just before my stop i do not miss that at all thankfully our management is cautious about returning to the office and is enjoying the cost savings they're seeing i'm on a great team where we pull together and check in on each other daily i imagine the harder on the new hires i imagine it's harder on the new hires we've brought in and on the younger team members, but we make sure they are able to shine and are successful in their projects. It's important that they get as much experience as possible as they are just starting their

careers. As for me, if I never go back to the office, it'll be too soon. Catherine Clark from Mississauga on one view of a discussion we had this week on. And we've had it, you know, a fair number of times over the last year because views have changed on this. And there are some other views in today's weekend special, so you'll hear those. Ed Ponikfar. I'd like to begin this note with, and he's in Burlington, Ontario. I would like to begin this note with great thanks to you for providing this podcast. It's been a good, great source of levity during this pandemic with the 2022 beijing winter olympics quickly approaching do you think that canada should be going the two michaels are still

incarcerated well you know i did mention this yesterday that um it's an issue next year's olympics but first off we've got to deal with this year's Olympics. They're set to start in less than two months in Japan. Should we be going? Should Canada be going? Should Canada allow its athletes to go? Do the athletes want to go? Well, part of the athletes will always say they want to go.

They want their life is about competition in the particular areas that they've chosen. They were upset last year when the Japan Olympics was postponed. Excuse me, and they're upset by some of the discussions around postponing them again this year, canceling them altogether, because they're starting to back up on each other, right? As for China, you know, the questions about China haven't stopped, and the debate surrounding China and COVID hasn't stopped. And the debate surrounding China and COVID hasn't stopped. And clearly the debate about China and the two Michaels and China and various issues about their relationships and their conduct

with countries in other parts of the world still exists. So I don't have an answer for you, Ed, on that. And I don't think it's really for me to pronounce whether or not we should be involved, but I would like to hear from the athletes first to see what they say and how they're feeling about the issues, whether they be health-related or whether they be politics-related.

Certainly on the political front, the athletes always say, hey, that's not us, that's not our problem, that's not our business. Some people think, you know, it is actually their problem. But I'd like to hear from them separately. Ed Kuntz from Calgary, Alberta. The letter you read about rationing in Britain jogged my memory that we too had rationing in Canada. I was born in 1939 and do vaguely remember that rationing. There are two things I do remember. My father was the manager treasurer of a small insurance company in the hamlet of Formosa,

about 100 kilometers north of Stratford. Stratford is where I live, although I'm in Toronto today. His need to travel to service the company's policyholders, or perhaps his political ties assured, despite rationing, that he was able to maintain and gas up a car so we always were able to travel a bit. That was not the case for everyone. I recall my cousin's family had to put their car into storage when the tires wore out. My second recollection was one involving liquor purchases. Somehow, again possibly political connections, he knew that, well he's talking about his dad, he knew that liquor was to be rationed. He managed to acquire a stock before rationing came into effect and buried it in our backyard for safekeeping.

When we moved from that property in 1944, he got a postcard from his sister-in-law. All it said was, don't forget to shovel, shovel, shovel. Thanks for the memories. So he didn't tell us what happened. Did he find all that liquor? Or do we have to head up to Formosa and start digging ourselves? Stephen Rushton in Windsor, Ontario. Let's see, where should we start this one?

Social media is part of the problem. The problem being the quality of politicians. That's what Stephen's writing about. Social media is part of the problem, along with the general disdain the general population has for politicians. Now, some of the lack of confidence for the politicians is well-earned, but the hard-working and good-intended ones also bear the wrath of the public. I'm sure in your many years that you could name many great politicians of your day, and in today's world, that list would be a lot shorter.

Additionally, I believe governments do not do the big things anymore. It's just easier to try and keep the base happy so you can win the next election. Stephen, you know, I've talked before about my feelings towards politicians in general. I think there are a lot of good, decent, hardworking politicians out there from all parties who entered, for the right reason,

into the political game, if you will, because they felt that they had things to offer to make our lives easier. Some of them have maintained that focus throughout their time in politics. Others have kind of fallen off that wagon, so to speak. And what I will say is the nature of partisan politics

has really damaged the profession. And you can tell as soon as you hear somebody start speaking, any politician, whether it's a leader or a follower. If their edge is partisan, tune out. They've got to learn at some point. Okay. Jason Miller wrote, I'm not sure whether Jason told us where he was writing from,

but basically he wanted me to enter the debate and the discussion that was raised by a group within the CBC of journalists, mostly young journalists, but not only young journalists, was raising the question about the whole Israel-Palestinian question is covered, and certainly had been covered recently in the fighting that was going on between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza mainly. And he said, you know, I don't know whether you're unable or unwilling to talk about it because it's going on at the CBC.

I have no problem talking about anything about the CBC. I don't work for the CBC anymore. Like I was a staff member of the CBC for half a century and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I had with the CBC. But right now I'm an independent journalist. I basically work for myself. I do have a contract for documentaries with the CBC, one of which I've been working on for the last week or so and that's why I'm in Toronto. But I don't feel shy about expressing my views about the CBC. I do think this is a particular situation, I can tell you, on my years of coverage of that question

and of doing stories all across the Middle East, including in Israel and the West Bank. There's nothing more controversial in terms of getting responses from the public about the coverage we give, or I gave, or we gave, and that remains the same today. And I think having a vigorous discussion around this question is a good thing. And I think it's a very good thing to have those discussions internally at the CBC. Sometimes I feel some of the conversations go too broadly when they start being leaked to, you know, outside media. And I'm not sure that they are able to accomplish the kind of discussion that they want to have when they start leaking things. Because then it gets all quite messy internally. But it's a public broadcaster, and some of these issues need to be discussed

on a wider front than just within the CBC. And, you know, beyond that, I'm not going to, I'm just not going to get into it. I do think that it's an important discussion to have on the part of those who are inside, and I'm not inside anymore. I was actively involved in those kind of discussions when I was inside, but now all I would say is I think it's a good thing for any news organization to have a vigorous debate about the way they cover stories. And that seems to have been what's going on there. Mary Reinhart writes from Barrie, Ontario.

And I'm just going to read a short chunk from Mary's lengthy letter. She's a senior manager, so she has real experience in terms of leading small groups and larger groups within companies. And so she has some thoughts on this whole issue of work from home. As the knowledge economy continues to grow, more and more demand is on skill level, creativity, digestion of daily updates, teamwork, innovation on the fly. I struggle to see how the organic creativity that flows from casual discussion will continue if we move seriously into this whole work from home issue. Also, trust amongst teams is a huge element to build. When a group of people are talking and new thoughts are generated,

there's a trust level in that particular nucleus, a free flow of thought. Believe me, it's difficult to generate this through Zoom. Absolutely lots of potential for some productivity in some areas where head down road work is required, but even this is at times needs instruction, discussion, collaboration, all those buzzwords. Isolation at a computer prohibits much of that, and it does not happen like it does through good roundtable discussion. She's got lots more to add in this, but that is the basic thrust of her argument. And she feels clearly that there would be a real loss if people moved away from working together in offices. I had a couple of notes on the Dominic Cummings matter that we talked about.

Boris Johnson's former senior advisor has come out swinging on Boris Johnson and his cabinet over their handling of the pandemic. And I wondered aloud the other day, along with Bruce Anderson, whether we've had that kind of speaking out on the part of a senior advisor about the guts and inner workings of a discussion around public policy. Bill Gorsline from Port Hope, Ontario, wrote, I'm wondering whether Dalton Camp's unseating of John Deeth Baker in the 60s is at all similar to the Cummings affair.

I believe that Camp had been working for Deeth. Sure he did. He was president of the party. But I can't remember if it was only on his election campaigns or if he was providing advice on policy. I don't recall that Camp ever told tales out of school, a la Cummings. Got pretty close. In which case, I guess it would just be an example of vicious internecine conflict. But wow, was it a conflict. And of course, Turner versus Creighton,

Martin versus Creighton were examples of internal warfare within the party I support. And that's not good ever. I don't think any of those examples quite qualify. The last two were really competing camps for the leadership. And the Camp Diefenbaker thing was clearly a struggle for power within the party and an attempt to unseat a leader, which eventually is exactly what happened. The handling of the pandemic is, that's really, that's quite different from any of those. But they're fun to think back to those days. Robert O. writes from Toronto, and this, once again, is just part of what he had to say. He got interested in listening to our discussion the other day about tipping and whether or not you're tipping any more than you have had been in the past

because of the pandemic. Just like with many things over the course of the pandemic, says Robert, my tipping routine has changed. Previously, I tipped around 10%. Now I tip at the very least 30%. Sort of my unique way of supporting businesses and their employees during the economically difficult time that we're in. While it might be quite a high percentage,

given that I've been going out relatively less over the course of the past year, I can't spread out the money that I spend on tipping. In other words, in the COVID era, I've tipped more but gone out less, rather than pre-COVID, where I went out often but tipped less, percentage-wise. 30%, that's pretty good, Robert. You might want to put a big 30% on your forehead when you're going into a place with a lineup. You'll probably get moved up fairly quickly.

Okay, we'd love to hear from our listeners to the podcast who are overseas, and one of the ones who wrote this week from overseas wrote from Japan, Arlen Nimchuk. It was nice to hear some news about Japan on the Thursday podcast. Some points about the information presented should be checked. First, information about the low level of infection rate here in Japan can be misleading. In 2020 and this year, there have been times when individuals

who contacted medical professionals for assistance were told to stay at home, not come to the hospital. Because there are a lot of small hospitals in Japan, the worry was that they may have been an infected patient would end up causing the small hospitals to shut down. The low level of infection may be due to the limited amount of testing done here in Japan. Yes, the vaccine rollout here has been slow. It was reported earlier in the spring of this year

that the vaccines had finally arrived in Japan, but had been kept refrigerated for close to a month without using them, when they could have been given to citizens? How would Canadians have responded if the same thing had happened there? To get the vaccine, residents have to wait to get a notification letter from the government. Then they have to phone a call center to make an appointment, which can take days sometimes. Discussions have been taking place about allowing pharmacies and perhaps even dentists to also give vaccinations, but so far, that will only be done by medical personnel at hospitals or, more recently, temporary vaccination centers.

I'm guessing that I may be vaccinated sometime in the summer or fall, crossing my fingers. Yeah, it's hard to imagine if that was going on in Canada, there wouldn't be outrage led by those news organizations that have been leading the outrage through most of this year. But some of this stuff is like way bigger. I hope your listeners have heard that the IOC, the Olympic Committee, has told Japan that the Olympics will be done even if Tokyo is under quarantine.

The IOC may say that, but what will the various delegations say from around the world? The majority view in Japan is that not only has the Japanese government been thinking of the Olympics instead of other concerns within Japan, but that the IOC has no concern for the safety of the citizens here in Japan or the consequences of holding such an event during a pandemic. Arlen Nimchuk. Arlen's in Naruto, Japan. That's going to be an interesting story to watch over the last few weeks.

As Arlen mentioned, we did this a day ago, two days ago. And I see today it's now on the front page of the cover of some news magazines. So we like to set the trend, the bridge. What's the bridge doing today, said the Time magazine editor to his co-editor. We've got to follow the bridge. We've got to have a time cover on that. Just joking. Okay, this is the way we're going to end today.

I really like this story. And it's from Kathy Carter in Edmonton. And she actually does what I do on Thursdays. She created her own potpourri, and we're going to read her story that she found while tracking the news wires around the world. Hi, Peter. I haven't had time to listen to all your most recent podcasts yet, but wonder if you'd heard about this one. Given the importance of the arts to Stratford and to many communities in Canada, it might be of interest. Personally, I think it's

brilliant and would be fantastic for Canada as we try to recover from COVID-19. And the headline on this story is France's 18-year-olds are given a 300-pound's you know around 500 bucks culture pass france's 18 year olds given a 300 pound culture pass and she sends along a short story from the bbc and i'm going to read it with my best BBC voice. Good evening. No, I won't do that. Some 800,000 teenagers a year can now look forward to downloading an app and getting 300 pounds.

The pass can be used for tickets to the cinema, museum and theatre, or to buy books, art materials, dance courses and instruments, or an online subscription. Cinemas and museums reopened this week, but the pass is not linked to recovery from the COVID pandemic. Emmanuel Macron, who made the Culture Pass one of the promises of his 2017 presidential campaign, announced the move in a 30-second TikTok, an Instagram video, reeling off a possible list of movies, museums, novels, video games, rap music. He said,

to take advantage of it, go to the Culture Pass app and it's up to you. Once they register, 18-year-olds will have two years to spend the money. It won't take them that long, trust me. It was originally run as a 500-pound trial, but the government has decided that 200 pounds of it will be given to school children from 2022 in chunks of 25 pounds a year for 14 and 15-year-olds and 50 pounds for the final three years of school. The app lists a variety of exhibitions, concerts, and other cultural events in your local area, such as a Friday night gig by 47 Tur.

I don't know who that is, and I don't know whether that's how they say their name, in the central town of Nevers that Mr. Macron was set to attend himself. Capacity in concert halls, theaters, and cinemas is still limited to 35%, while space in museums is also restricted. And the article goes on a bit. But isn't that a great idea to try to involve young people in various forms

of arts and culture? And I haven't heard that being done anywhere else. But I bet you, I'll bet you they're listening in Ottawa to that idea. And the connections between Ottawa and Paris may be up and running in terms of how are you actually going to work this and how's it going so far?

Because if we're getting close to an election campaign, and it seems like we are, latest betting on that, by the way, is, you know, as you know, this changes every week, and it'll probably have changed by next week. There'd be much talk about a spring election. That really does not appear to be happening, and for good reason. I think people would be upset about that, with still the pandemic roaring in certain places. But the overall tone is good, that things are backing off. But people want to see full evidence of that.

So maybe fall, early fall, you know, kind of somewhere around middle of August, call for an election, middle of September, end of September, election date. That's one of the latest kind of rumblings. Who knows? We'll see. But with an election coming, people again, you know, the promises come out. I'll do this. I'll do that. Could this be one of them?

Could something like that be one of them? Because all great ideas are often ripped off from somewhere else, right? Just might be on this one, too. Anyway, thank you to Kathy Carter in Edmonton for sending that along. Don't know how I missed it. Great picture of the Mona Lisa on the BBC story and whenever I see a picture of the painting

of the Mona Lisa it brings a smile to my face a little broader than the one on her face because my wife Cynthia Dale she was at the Louvre with her friend, Roma Downey. They've been friends for 30, 40 years.

Irish actress. They appeared together on Broadway in the 80s. I think they shared an apartment together as well. Anyway, they were close and they've remained close. They talk and see each other all the time. But she was in Paris with Roma, I don't know, 10 years ago. And they had a kind of a private, I don't know whether you'd call it a private tour,

but they had access to the Louvre at a time when the public wasn't in. And one of the things that Cynthia does, and still does, is she likes to do handstands in famous places. And she's doing a handstand kind of in front of the mona lisa's back off enough so that she'd fell over she wasn't going to crash into the painting but there it is and it's kind of funny to see um but we won't talk about that or tell anybody right because you're you're not supposed to do anything like that. But I digress, and I don't know where I was.

I think I was just saying, great idea for young people, encouraging the learning and the enjoyment of arts and culture. So good luck with that program in France, and we'll have to keep an eye on the rest of arts and culture. So good luck with that program in France. And we'll have to keep an eye on the rest of the world, including our little country to see if others do it as well. All right. That wraps her up for this week's weekend special and this week's series of podcasts.

Hope you've enjoyed it. And next week we'll be back. As I said, a discussion about vaccine passports is going to be on the bill. Smoke Mirrors and the Truth on Wednesday with Bruce Anderson. And a week from today, it'll be the weekend special. And next week, is it next week? Yeah, it's next week. We'll be into June.

We're getting into's next week. We'll be into June. We're getting into June next week. Remember how slow things were at the beginning of the pandemic? It just seems for some reason to me now, things are moving very quickly. And let's hope they keep moving quickly and keep moving in the right direction, and we play our part in making sure that happens. All right, I peter mansbridge this has been the bridge the weekend special edition i hope you have a great weekend stay safe stay well be kind we'll talk to you again on monday Thank you.