The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Who Is The Prime Minister of Finland, And Why Doers It Matter Today?

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

It's mailbag day with your letters and comments on a variety of issues from the pandemic to the Beatles. But we start with a great story from Finland.  Their 36-year-old prime minister was found clubbing till 4 am on the day one of her ministers tested positive for Covid.  Its made world headlines which is a story in itself.  

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. Who is the Prime Minister of Finland? And why should you care? And welcome to Thursday on the Bridge. My teased question a few moments ago was about the Prime Minister of Finland. Do you know who that is? Have you ever heard of the Prime Minister of Finland before? Well, she's 36 years old. She's a social democrat.

And her name is Sana Marin. And right now she has her country kind of split over her actions last Saturday night. Some say she should be in serious trouble because she broke her own COVID rules of her government. While others say, hey, she's okay. She's 36. She's a prime minister. She's a busy person. Yet she pulled an all-nighter clubbing till 4 a.m. Now, there's nothing wrong with clubbing, and you're definitely allowed to do that.

But she had been warned, or at least a message had been sent to her, that one of her senior ministers had just tested positive for COVID. Now, she says she never got the message because, wait for it, she left her phone at home when she went out clubbing. Because we all do that. We all never take our phones with us, right? Anyway, I don't doubt her. I have no reason to doubt her. It just seems a little odd that she'd forget her phone.

But even then, if she'd had her phone and if she had seen the message, the rules in Finland, which has been very successful in the fight against COVID, the rules in Finland are that you don't have to go in isolation if you have found out that somebody close to you has tested positive. You just have to monitor yourself, which she's been doing since, and keeps testing negative. But still, you know, the appearance of these things, the prime minister out clubbing until 4 a.m.,

having a good time with a whole packed crowd of people. Anyway, I find it a fascinating story. And it's getting a lot of worldwide coverage. I mean, Finland is, it's not that it's never on the map of news, because it is for a lot of good reasons occasionally. But it's sure on the map right now. It's being covered around the world because of your 36-year-old prime minister clubbing until 4 a.m. That's the angle for the news coverage.

It's not the COVID angle. She's clubbing until 4 a.m.? Anyway, enough on that. And welcome to winter, I guess. I finally realized that, okay, it's time to give up. Summer's over, fall's over, we're into winter. And I decided this last night, about five o'clock. I was in Ottawa, I had to do some interviews yesterday.

And I was flying back. Get on the plane. Porter Airlines, get on the plane. Porter Airlines got on the plane in Ottawa. It's snowing. There's snow on the plane. You know what that means. It's

time to de-ice. And so we went through the de-icing process. And it's then when you really go to say to yourself, all right, you know what?

It's winter. This happens. This is what happens in Canada in winter. Now I'll tell you the one thing I still don't quite get about de-icing. The whole idea to de-ice is you've got snow on the plane or there's been freezing rain or whatever it may be and you want to put the de-icing liquid on the plane or there's been freezing rain or whatever it may be and you want to put the de-icing liquid on the plane and take off as quickly as possible so there's no issue about the potential for icing because icing disrupts the basically the shape of the airplane, and can cause all kinds of problems on takeoff or landing.

So anyway, what's puzzled me about the de-icing process is you would think because there's, you know, you want to take off as soon as you can after you've been de-iced, that you would arrange to have that de-icing facility close to the active runway and the end of the active runway from which you're going to begin your takeoff roll. Now, I know those change all the time because of winds. But, you know, you can move those trucks around, right? But here last night in Ottawa, we could not have been further away

from the active runways beginning of its roll position than we were where we were de-iced. I don't get that. Like, you would think they would do something about that. But those are the kind of strange ways my brain works. I've always thought that why don't they just invent, you know, it's kind of like a car wash, those automatic car washes. Why don't they invent something like that that they can position,

they can take out to the nearest position to the active runway move it around if they have to during the day but you know would be on wheels and it stretches right across the taxiway and the planes just drive under it and they get de-iced and it's all like bingo it's all pretty quick and very effective and efficient but no they haven't done that they like having all these trucks around and in some airports like pearson in toronto it's like a big deal that whole area where they de-ice and i'll give them one thing at pearson or at least they used to. I'm assuming they still do. There's a ton of liquid that's used for that, right? The de-icing liquid.

And at Pearson, they drain it and save it and recycle it as windshield de-icing fluid. At least they used to. I'm assuming they still do. But I know they used to do that a few years ago. But that's good. So that's good to know. My only other airplane story, you know I love airplane stories, was when I flew up to Ottawa the night before.

I was on an Air Canada flight. I was one of three passengers on the plane. So while let's talk about how the airlines come roaring back, it's clearly happening in some places. I'm not so sure after the news of the new variant, but I'll tell you, this was like having your own private jet. There were just three of us on the plane. They did ask us all to move to the back when we took off for weight balancing issues.

The pilot wanted the three passengers to be in the back of the plane to help him in the way the plane was balanced. Anyway, that gives you a real surge of confidence just before the takeoff when they come and say, well, actually, the pilot would like you to move to the back because, well, you know, it's a weight balance issue. Yeah, absolutely. I'm on my way. Anyway, all was good.

Flights were perfect perfect everybody was nice and you know the uh the meal service has gone down a little bit as a result of covid love those potato chips all right uh this is thursday and that means i have some of your letters the mailbag edition and i've got it pared down it's picking out just a few letters but before i get there a little potpourri because there's a couple of interesting things i spotted in bloomberg the news service bloomberg and in their opinion section there's a really good piece asking the question would the united states have spotted omicron as fast as south africa spotted it because south african scientists discovered the variant by noticing an uptick in infections and quickly sequencing the virus from tests in a hot spot but But the U.S. has a disorganized public health system

with data infrastructures that slows its COVID responses and aren't as robust as South Africa to handle future pandemics, calling into question whether they would have been able to do the same. Arielle Kane is the author of this opinion piece in Bloomberg, and it's pretty clear what she thinks. She thinks we owe the South Africans a lot, because they got it, and they got it quickly, and warned the world. America's health data collection system is a mix of state, local, private,

and government efforts, and it has proved difficult for the various agencies to share information the result is that it takes the u.s an average of 28 days to sequence and post the strain of any covet 19 test a job the uk does in 10 days. Interesting argument. And one that we continually look at South Africa and say, hey, they did the world a favor. There's another opinion piece in Bloomberg as well, also on Omicron. Almost no low-income countries are on track to meet the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating 40% of their populations by the end of this year, with the median vaccination rate at only 14%. And the longer developing nations remain unvaccinated, the greater the danger of new variants emerging. Closing the gap will require focusing on vaccine demand

as well as on supply. That, once again, is from Bloomberg. All this while the debate is still on about did we overhype the Omicron variant it's clear that it moves very quickly but just how damaging dangerous deadly is the omicron variant that's still that's still unclear but the early indications are that the vaccines, especially if you've had a booster, can deal with Omicron no problem. And so therefore the argument is if you're not vaccinated, get vaccinated.

If you are vaccinated but haven't had a booster, as soon as you're able to have one, as soon as it's okay for your age group to get it, get it. A couple of other stories. This says something about the pandemic. This is in the Wall Street Journal. Close to 27% of U.S. consumers said in October that they had applied for a credit card in the past 12 months.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the highest level since 2019, suggesting consumers could continue to drive the U.S. economic recovery. Lenders have been working to get more people to sign up for cards by offering rewards, easing borrowing requirements, and lowering credit score requirements in the hopes that more spending will translate to more people carrying balances. Currently, credit card balances, these are all U.S. figures, right? But they're somewhat similar to Canada's. Currently, credit card, well, you know, proportionally, currently credit card balances remain $123 billion lower than they were at the end of 2019, according to the New York Fed.

More than 11% of U.S. consumers said in October that they had applied for credit limit increases in the past 12 months, up from about 7% a year ago, signaling an expected increase in spending. The New York Times has a piece on comparing the gender differences on earning power for doctors. The Gender Differences on Earning Power for Doctors. A first-of-its-kind survey analyzing the cumulative impact of pay gaps in medicine found that women make 25% less than men over a 40-year career. The researchers estimated that over a simulated 40-year career, male physicians earned an average of $8.3 million, while women made roughly $6.3 million. They controlled for factors that influence pay, such as specialty, type of practice, and patient volume, as more men tend to be surgeons, while women tend to go into primary care,

leading to a lower volume of services that can be billed for. That's a big gap. Right? Two million dollars. And last, last little bit of news. You got a cat? Well, if you do, you'll get a kick out of this story. This will have you purring.

Funny, eh? Sorry. The New York Times says, many large conspiracy theorists share videos and images of cute animals to draw a huge audience that can then be redirected to a publication or site spreading misinformation about a variety of topics. Oftentimes, people follow pages of cute animals

and end up unknowingly subscribing to misleading posts by the same publisher known as Engagement Bait, which helps misinformation actors generate higher clicks on their pages and therefore making them more prominent on a user's feed. The outlets then share anti-China, anti-vax, and right-wing conspiracy theories. And it appears that the favorite to lure you in is pictures and video of cute cats. Rachel Morin, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online misinformation, says,

pictures of cute animals, like cats, and videos of wholesome moments are the bread and butter of social media and definitely won't run afoul of any algorithmic content moderation detection. Now, there you go. Beware the cat videos. All right. Time for a quick break when we come back the mailbag your letters a couple of your thoughts and comments on the week that is And welcome back to The Bridge, Thursday edition.

I'm Peter Mansbridge. I'm in Toronto today, just back from Ottawa, and shortly on my way to Stratford. You're listening to The Bridge on SiriusXM Canada, Channel 167 Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform and wherever you're listening from. We're glad you're with us.

All right, some of your letters. Peter Todorovic. He's in Toronto. Canada should initiate a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Games. Well, Peter sent this letter two days ago. You must be happy because yesterday that's exactly what they did. But he gives his arguments why. The Olympic Games are for athletes.

As a taxpayer, I don't want to pay for diplomats, government officials, or other freeloaders to attend, irrespective of whether there are any issues of human rights involved in the host country. In fact, I was not aware of the custom of sending diplomatic staff to the Olympic Games. The practice should stop. The staff should spend their time helping ordinary Canadians in need abroad, and the money saved can be used to help support athletes' training. Nobody believes that diplomatic staff can't do diplomacy in other venues and at other times. Furthermore, threatening a diplomatic boycott of a sporting event as a way to change a country's human rights leaves me scratching my head. Really?

If a government thinks there's a problem with human rights leaves me scratching my head. Really? If a government thinks there's a problem with human rights in China, then it should have the courage to take actions that have real consequences, not take actions that are just publicity stunts. I think the message to the Chinese government from this diplomatic boycott talk is that a country wants to look like it's taking a tough stance over human rights abuses, but wink wink, it really wants to look like it's taking a tough stance over human rights abuses but wink wink it really wants to avoid anything substantial that would jeopardize the status quo i think apartheid in south africa was taken down with much more severe means you're right about that have a great day love your show sincerely peter todorovic in toronto we're going to talk about this boycott

tomorrow on good talk when chantelle and bruce join us among other issues ann marie klein writes she's also in toronto i caught up to all the week's podcast today and just wanted to say that the easiest solution for password protection, we've dealt with this a couple of times in the last few weeks, is to get an app to keep all your passwords for you in such complex combinations that you don't need to learn any of them, but solely create one super password to enter the app. My husband and I store our website passwords and other important documents,

such as credit cards, passport, and driver's license numbers on 1Password. And I guess you get that at 1Password.com, and 1 is the figure 1, 1Password.com. And I've never had any of our sites compromised. It's truly a lifesaver, and you just need to remember the long password you used to enter it. Yeah, that would be handy. Love your show, and I hope this info will help.

My better half is a long-time geek industry specialist, so his recommendations are always highly recommended in this field. Okay, I'm not vouching recommended in this field. Okay. I'm not vouching for onepassword.com. I've never been on that site. I don't know anything about it. But Anne-Marie Klein obviously thinks it's usable. And so she tells us that.

Carolyn Black writes from Waterloo. And this is a... This has its low points and its high points, this letter. Last week was a tough week for my family, and as a result, I didn't have the focus or time to listen to most of your podcasts, so I've been catching up on them this weekend. I guess she wrote this last weekend.

Last week, my sister-in-law died. She was 56, three days away from her 57th birthday. So sad. She's left behind her husband and 21-year-old triplets. For various reasons, her children aren't launched the way that some 21-year-olds are. And one of the things that's the saddest for us is that Donna Jean won't get to experience the pride and satisfaction of being part of her kids' major life milestones, and likewise her kids won't have their mom there. My 21-year-old daughter is in most ways launched into the world.

A few weeks ago she sent us her fourth-year undergrad thesis presentation, of course done virtually, so it was recorded, which was better than many presentations that my husband and I have seen in our professional lives. We were bursting with pride and satisfaction that we've done our job. There have been many more of these proud moments through the years. What tops it all is that I know she is a good person with good values, kindness, and she places very high value on family. Anyhow, I could totally relate when I heard you, that's me, talk about attending the red carpet with your son. This is for the Navbatcha doc last week. Attending the red carpet with your

son who was involved in the production of that doc and your pride as a parent and I'm so glad that you got to experience that. Thank you for sharing that story. Well I think we all have those moments. And I can only hope that your sister-in-law had a number of moments in her life, which I'm sure she did with her kids, but so sad to hear somebody passing away at such a young age. The last two letters are as a result of the special program I did the other day. And if you haven't heard it, and if you're interested, you should really dial it back and listen to it. Because I'm really proud of it. It was with Strombo, George Strombolopoulos.

It was about Strombo, George Strombolopoulos. It was about the Beatles. If you've been watching this documentary series, the Peter Jackson documentary series, where he's got all this archival film from the late 1960s, and has put it together. It was kind of 12 days of filming as they got ready for a concert. And they had to develop and write new songs. And it's fascinating to watch it.

At least I found it fascinating. Not everybody has. Some people have criticized it and say it's boring and blah, blah, blah. I didn't. Now, I'm a child of the 60s. I like to think I am. But I grew up with that.

The Beatles were a huge deal for me and my friends. It's funny because initially I said, well, the band that's really going to make it is the Dave Clark Five. The DC Five. Glad all over. All those great songs. They're going to be bigger than the Beatles. I was clearly wrong about that.

Although Dave Clark ended up having, I'm pretty sure, had a great career as a producer. After the Dave Clark Five kind of disbanded. Anyway, there have been a number of letters, and I've just isolated two on this. But if you are in any way a Beatles fan, you should listen to this interview with Strombo. And you don't have to be a Beatles fan. You may be just somebody who's been fascinated

by this documentary and what does it really mean in the grand scheme of things in all the years and decades of talk about the Beatles and their place in rock music history. Anyway, Barb Demaree writes from vancouver i loved your interview with george strombolopoulos on the beatles i was born in 1953 so the beatles were front and center during my adolescence in 2012 my daughter began working for Live Nation. Just after she started, Paul McCartney was scheduled to come to Vancouver, the first time back here since 1964. Although our family regularly got

complimentary tickets to concerts, there were none for Paul McCartney, and the concert completely sold out in minutes. My daughter did, though, take me to see Barbara Streisand around the same time, compliments of Live Nation. I was grateful and thought that I won't get to see Paul McCartney, but seeing Barbara Streisand was a close second. One night around that time, she called me into the kitchen so my son could take a picture of the two of us and said, smile, smile like you're going to see Paul McCartney. And she pulled two tickets out of her back pocket. I lost my mind. The concert was magical and seeing him with my child was like going back in time and bringing her with me.

As soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it all over again. I have the tickets and the set list framed. I remember going with Willie, I don't know, it must have been five years ago to see the Stones. It was in Toronto. It was at the arena where the Raptors and the Leafs play. I didn't know what to expect. I mean, these guys then had just entered their 70s, and I thought, really? And I watched Mick jumping around, singing the same old song,

Satisfaction, blah, blah, blah. And it took me about three minutes to get into it. There I was, screaming the words from these songs that have been a soundtrack in our lives. And it was fantastic. It was great. I loved every minute of it. And being there with your son just made it all the more wild and memorable.

Okay, so here's the last letter for today. It's a little longer. It is from Markham, Ontario. It's from Gary Chaffron. Hello, Peter. I really enjoyed your conversation with George Strombolopoulos on Tuesday. The Get Back documentary was very moving for me. In the first week of September of 1964, I experienced two life-altering events. The first was starting high school. The second, and ultimately the one that made the longest lasting impression on me, was going to my first ever rock concert. It was the Beatles at the Montreal Forum.

The noise that erupted when they first appeared on stage was the loudest sound I had ever heard. My ears stayed blocked for days and the music stayed with me for the rest of my life. It inspired me to take up the guitar and comb my hair down over my forehead. I got Santa home from school for that. Can you believe it? Yeah, those were different days. In 1968, I was on a trip to the UK. It is the time of Carnaby Street and so many other changes in London. Of course, I naively hoped that I would somehow run into the Beatles. On my second-to-last day after touring the British Isles for a month, I was staying in a hotel on Piccadilly Circus, across the street from the London Pavilion Theatre.

That night, a huge crowd gathered. It turned out that it was to be the site of the world premiere of Yellow Submarine. All of British rock royalty was there, including, of course, the Beatles. I saw them all arrive in their chauffeured cars and walk through the crowd to the premiere. Music has remained a major influence in my life. I went to Woodstock. But that's much too long a story for this letter. December of 1980 featured three other life milestones for me.

I experienced an unexpected and radical career change, which has sustained me to this day. Tragically, John Lennon died, leaving us all wondering what we have missed as a result. And most importantly, I met my wife-to-be. The Beatles' influence on my life continued, and an indelible memory was created in August of 2010 when I stood at my seat beside the stage at a Paul McCartney concert with my arms around my two adult children, tears streaming down my face as we sang along to the closing chorus of Hey Jude.

Wow, I'm just picturing that. I can imagine that, Gary. That must have meant something. I know that there are millions of people with similar stories to tell. Thanks for giving me an excuse to tell mine. By the way, I'm almost finished reading off the record. Very entertaining. Thanks for that, Gary.

That will become another one of your major life experiences. The next time you write this letter and you talk about the Beatles, you'll say, plus, there was that moment I read off the record by Peter Mansbridge. Well, I can dream. Thanks for that letter, Gary. Love it. Love that letter.

Love that image. Always enjoy all of your letters. The ones that say nice things, the ones that ask questions, the ones that criticize, they're all important. So, here we go. That's it for Thursday. Tomorrow, good talk.

Chantelle Hebert, Bruce Anderson will be here. We'll talk about any number of different things. And it's always great to talk to them. Last call for book plates.

This is it. Last week's my final week before I'm going to take a break for a couple of weeks. And we'll have some special shows next week. And then there will be some great repeat shows over the Christmas holidays. From this year, which has been a real banner year, right? But tomorrow, good talk with Chantel and Bruce. That's it for this day for The Bridge. I'm Peter Mansbridge.

Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you again in 24 hours.