The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn and The Ranter --- Books, Protests and Safe Injection Sites

Episode Date: November 24, 2022

Lots of your thoughts on the book business following our episode earlier in the week. Plus the convoy inquiry.  And then The Random Ranter returns with his thoughts on safe injection sites.  He doesn't hold back on a topic that often causes strong feelings.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. Who knew? You guys love books. And welcome to the Thursday episode of The Bridge. Traditionally, Thursdays are 1. Your turn and 2. The Ranter. And this is a traditional Thursday, so that's what we're going to get. It may be American Thanksgiving. There may be football games all over television. Macy's Parade, etc., etc.

But here at The Bridge, we remain true to our focus, and our focus on Thursdays is your turn. In other words, your letters, your thoughts, your comments, your questions, your ideas about whatever the issues of the day for you happen to be. So that's what we'll do, plus the ranter. Thursdays is ranter day and he's got something today

some people are going to find pretty interesting but before we get going let me say something about I guess it was about a year ago and I was in Scotland and I happened to notice in one of the British papers, or actually it was one of the Scottish papers, a feature on a new book about libraries. And I thought, well, it's interesting, you know, the history of libraries, how they're doing in an age of tech.

And so I tracked down the two authors who were at two different universities in the UK, one in England and one in Scotland, I believe. And we had a good chat about their book. And I thought, well, I'm not sure how this is going to play with the Bridge audience, but I found it interesting, so I'll put it out there. Well, lo and behold, we got a lot of reaction, a lot of letters, emails from you, the listener, about the importance of books in their life, etc., etc. So I was thinking about that last week when I thought, well, it's actually I've been thinking

about it for the last couple of weeks because we've done a number of programs on new books coming out for the busiest time of the year for booksellers, and that is the holiday season. And it kind of starts usually as kind of mid-October and then runs right through. And you'll see new books being dropped every week. And we're into it now, the end of November. You're seeing all the books, the new books that are available. And so I thought, well, why don't we do a conversation about the book business?

And so that's why I had, on Monday of this week, Brad Martin, former CEO of Penguin Random House, Canada. And Brad sort of walked us through some of the book business from his perspective as a, you know, he used to be called the most powerful guy in Canadian, in the Canadian book world. So he had a lot of, you know, a lot of things to say. And you know what?

More mail this week on the book business than on any other topic. More than on COVID, more than on the Emergencies Act, more than on Ukraine, more than everything. So we're going to reflect some of that in our Your Turn letters for this Thursday. A reminder on how this works. I get a lot of letters. I don't read them all on air. I read them all as they come in, and I choose bits and pieces of different letters to run.

And they could be in any particular order. But the order today will start actually with all those, you know, a reflection of some of the letters on the book business. And the first one, and it's a wonderful one, comes from Jean McCarthy in Lethbridge, Alberta. And she kind of takes me to task in a nice way by pointing out something really important that we should all recognize. So let me get right to it without preempting it. There's a thriving, once again, I'm just reading certain parts of this letter.

There's a thriving industry of independent authors, indie authors, who pursue the path of publishing, self-publishing, by choice. The book industry is only interested in new authors if they have a significant platform and are willing to put a lot of time into promoting their work. However, a writer with such a following doesn't necessarily need a book deal to be successful. Traditional book deals pay authors roughly $2 a book per sale. Indie authors, like me, that's Gene speaking, can make $5 to $20 a sale. We might sell fewer books, but the higher margins more than make up for it. Additionally, we retain control of the rights and make all the creative and editorial decisions.

For a competent writer, this can be a much more attractive direction. A writer, a recovery blog with 10,000 followers, and host of a recovery podcast with over 4 million downloads, these numbers are enough to attract a traditional publishing deal, but I love indie publishing and wouldn't have it any other way. I've published four books and plan several more. The quality is excellent and I'm very happy with this option. Some independent authors boast six-figure incomes,

but for smaller operations like mine, it is simply a matter of control and freedom. Thanks, Gene. Thanks for sending that along and giving us that perspective. I know when we were talking with Brad, he talked about how some independent authors work with Amazon to get their books published, where Amazon simply is like pumping out the book, no editorial input, as Gene mentions.

So you're kind of on your own as an independent author, and if you're comfortable and confident in your work, then I hear what Gene's saying. So it is, and it's not just, as we might have suggested in that interview with Brad the other day, it's not just those who can't get published with a major publisher. It's those who are making a decision on their own

to publish a certain way, as Jean does. So good for her. All right. certain way, as Jean does. So good for her. All right. Francis Arnold from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I used to be in Moose Jaw every day when I was based in Regina back in the 70s. The mid-70s. After I'd been in Winnipeg, I was moved to Regina,

and we had this strange setup of the CBC in those days in Saskatchewan where the newsroom was in Regina. The studio was in Moose Jaw, which was, I can't remember exactly how much, 40, 50 miles down the Trans-Canada Highway. I used to remember because it was basically in that drive, there was only one kind of curve. It was pretty dead straight the whole way, except one point where it kind of turned. And it was usually around that turning point

that the RCMP from their training base in Regina used to come out and test their radar traps, teach their new recruits how to use radar for speeders. Anyway, I did that drive back and forth every day for at least a year. So I got to know Regina and Moose Jaw. Francis Arnold writes from Moosejaw. After listening to the podcast on Monday about book publishing, I wanted to add some thoughts around audiobooks.

They need to be published, not for profit, but for accessibility. Those that are visually impaired, blind, should have the option to enjoy literature. I find they are also helpful to myself and others with ADHD. I struggle to read from a traditional book, but an audio book allows me to keep busy in some way while listening. As you continue to write and publish, I hope you take into consideration folks with disabilities and neurodivergence. So that's two letters in a row. And I thank you, Francis, for your thoughts, because you're pointing out something that I, you know, I did not, you know, include or,

I didn't factor into the discussion on books, and I should have. So thank you, thank you for that. John Tittle from Toronto. As an avid reader, I listened with special interest to your chat with Brad Martin. I was glad to hear Brad report that the book business is alive and well in Canada.

And I was really intrigued with his barn. There's now a personal library. Cool. Brad's retired now living out in Prince Edward County out near Belleville. And he's converted at least part of a barn into his new library. And it looks fantastic, at least from what I could see on the Zoom conversation we were having. Back to John's letter. I was hoping you would ask about the numbers behind book publishing,

and you didn't disappoint. I was very surprised to learn that in Canada, 15,000 copies is respectable, that's sales, and 25,000 copies is a big run. Somehow, I had always envisioned that the numbers were higher than that. But I guess when you think about it, selling 15,000 copies in such a competitive field is an achievement, especially when one considers that there are so many words competing for our reading eyeballs these days. The blogs, e-newsletters, news feeds feeds and social media posts are all part of our reading experience

these days but nothing will ever replace a comfy chair nice reading light a favorite beverage and a real book the paper kind at least in my opinion thanks john um and you're right let, let me tell you, reaching book sales into the many thousands of copies is a real achievement for authors who end up with those kind of numbers. Because there are a lot of authors who write very good books who, for any number of different reasons, they're just not big sellers. And, you know, that's unfortunate for them because a lot of work goes into writing a book. I know, and I've had it pretty easy. I mean, I write with my good friend Mark Bulgich. We're in the middle of writing a new book, our second together.

And I know how hard Mark works, and I know how hard I work. But, you know, it isn't an easy process. Laura Burt writes, I'm not sure where, Laura's in Calgary. I listened to Brad Martin, the book book guy the other day on your podcast I was struck by how he came across as a man of few words he seemed to choose his words carefully and was thoughtfully slow to answer your questions I wonder if that has something to do with how many words he's read over his lifetime and whether he has internalized the value of a good editor. Maybe right there. Quality over quantity.

Anyway, I bet Brad would be a formidable Scrabble opponent. Or maybe he dabbles in Sudoku to get away from words in his off time. Just one of the many questions you didn't ask him. I love those letters. I get a lot of those. Why didn't you ask this? Why didn't you ask that? And often those are good suggestions. Sometimes not so much, but sometimes they are. Also, you mentioned in the end bits this week that 300 and some words are being added to the dictionary this year. That made me wonder about words that get removed from the dictionary, or categorized as obsolete, words that have fallen out of use over time.

While not exactly archaic, I often think of the word swell. Have you heard that word used in the last few decades? I have not. Like licorice all sorts, the foxtrot and the name Mabel, some things, words included, just go out of fashion. I'm thinking a list of obsolete or unfashionable words could be very useful when paying Scrabble. Playing Scrabble.

That's a swell idea, Laura. And as soon as I finish my latest Foxtrot lesson, I'll get on then. Ron Fisher from Barry. As one of those that harassed you to do an audio book, I can say I very much appreciated your voice and excellent storytelling abilities. And I also bought the book for my shelf to make me look smart. Hey, listen, if you wanted to buy two copies, one audio and one text, good for you. I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy you did that we got one more letter on books sure here it is

comes from Bill Chichart Grand Bend Ontario I never get Bill's name right but he still keeps writing very much enjoyed your episode this week with Brad Martin Bill's name right, but he still keeps writing. Very much enjoyed your episode this week with Brad Martin about all things books.

I've written a book. In my case, it was about curling. Therefore, I know what a challenge it can be. So many of my readers know me and tell me that when they read my book, they hear me say the words, which in a fashion turns my printed version into an audio book. All right, Bill, it's a bit of a stretch, but I hear what you're saying. And he carries on. Put me down as one who prefers to hold a book in my hands.

Digital versions on my tablet drive me crazy because they're touchscreen devices. I'm regularly inadvertently touching the screen, which changes the page either backwards or forwards. You know, it's a tough life, eh, Bill? These first world problems that we have. All right, moving on. We had a few letters this week, a few emails about the continuing commission of inquiry

into the Emergencies Act. Today's a big day. Tomorrow's a big day. Today it's the Deputy Prime Minister, Christian Freeland, some of the members of the staff of the Prime Minister, including Katie Telford, who's the kind of the big cheese in the office. And tomorrow it's the Prime Minister himself, which will kind of clash with the good talk tomorrow

because as much as we'd like to talk about what the Prime Minister, how he did in the inquiry tomorrow, will already be on the air. So that part of it's going to have to wait. But I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about anyway with Chantel and Bruce tomorrow. Connor Whalen writes from Flusherton, Ontario. I have yet to hear a justification for the Emergencies Act.

All law enforcement and security organizations have said it was either not needed or the protest did not amount to a security threat. And I'm not sure that's the case. Quite frankly, Connor, I think you're overstating it. There were a number of law enforcement agencies, including CSIS, which made it clear to the Prime Minister that they thought the Act was needed. I know there are various versions of what CSIS said to the Prime Minister, but the bottom line was, at the crunch time,

use the Emergencies Act. Back to Connor. The blockades at the border were cleared before the EA was invoked. That's true. That's true in the big cases, Coutts and Windsor. I agree, everything needed to be cleared,

but the incompetence of the Ottawa police is hardly a justification for the EA. At the very least, it certainly shouldn't be. All right. You know, Connor, we're going to hear when the commission reports what the justice who's running the commission feels about the use of the Emergencies Act, and we'll wait and see what they have to say, but you clearly made your views known.

Tony McKinnon in Hamilton. It's clear that a significant contributing factor to the protests in Ottawa being out of control was the failure by the leadership of the Ottawa Police Service to properly manage the situation. Perhaps the success of preventing problems from arising when protesters turned their sights on Toronto is more attributable to the effective management of the situation by the local police, the Toronto Police Service, than any speculative influence Doug Ford may have had on that situation.

Possibly, but the Toronto Police benefited from having watched a couple of weeks of the, or at least a week of the Ottawa Police failing to handle the situation, so they learned lessons from that. But they were also, there's no doubt they were nudged. Ontario and Toronto forces were nudged by the provincial government not to let the same thing happen around their parliament buildings, the Queen's Park. So Ford had something to do with it.

Tony has a great PS wasn't that a fun Grey Cup game you know there's something about the Grey Cup that almost every year that game is the most exciting game they have on their schedule not just because it's a championship game, but because the actual game is exciting.

It always comes down right to, seemingly, always comes down right to the very end, as it did again this year. Rick Byers writes from Orillia. This, once again, is about the Emergencies Act inquiry. An elephant in the room is Prime Minister Trudeau's personality. He doesn't, in the opinion of most people, be the type to suit the idiom, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

So plan B among the key players was the Act. You make a number of assumptions there that I'm not sure I agree with you. I think most people agreed with the introduction of the Act. That's what all the polling data shows. Is that going to change as a result of this inquiry? Well, we'll see. I haven't heard any reason why it would change yet. And, you know, I know people have strong feelings about Trudeau both ways.

But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Isn't that exactly what happened when he introduced the Emergencies Act? I mean, he had to introduce it. Not one of his ministers, not one of his bureaucrats. He had to make that call. And he made it. So one assumes at that point he was being tough, rightly or wrongly. Here's another one that kind of relates to this story.

And it comes from Brian Nickerson. He lives in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Peter, I'm a 70-year-old man who is still working because I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack and didn't do all the right things when I was a young man. None of us did. I'm 74, and I'm still working. I live it, but I love it, right?

I don't have to work. I'm kind of self-employed. I created this idea, this little podcast. I do my thing. I sit down and I write books. But I've chosen to keep working. Anyway, back to Brian's letter. I live in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

I drive tractor-trailer, my tractor, in and out of the U.S. Can't understand why the use of the Emergency Act presents such a problem. If I could have the money spent on this foolishness, I could retire in a country of my choosing. If any of our politicians had a lick of common sense, this wouldn't be an issue. If it hadn't been used, I think the protests would still be going on. It seems the Ottawa police couldn't police a

preschool nap time. I grew up in a small town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where the town was policed by one man. Lord help you if you had issues with him and the law. I voted for all the parties since I was allowed to vote. This waste of time is so unnecessary. There are far better ways to spend the taxpayers' money. I also enjoy the ranter and tend to do the same myself. Well, you had kind of a mini rant there, Brian. Good for you. That's what Thursdays is all about.

But it is also about the random ranter. Our friend from somewhere in Western Canada. He's just a guy. He's just an ordinary guy. He's not associated or affiliated with any party, doesn't work for any party, doesn't belong to any political party. He's just a guy.

He's a common guy, has a relatively common job, works hard, has a family, and he loves to rant. And he's ready today. Step up to the plate. Random Renter. I despise drugs and I'm vehemently against them. They're an absolute scourge. But that said, I'm in

favor of safe consumption sites. The situation as it stands is ridiculous. There are meth heads wandering around in full blown psychosis and junkies leaving dirty needles in playgrounds. It's a hazard to everyone and the problem exists to varying degrees in every single community right across this country. So yeah, I'm getting off my abstinence high horse, pinching my nose, and throwing my support behind a solution I never dreamed I could condone. But choosing to have safe consumption sites is not choosing to be lenient on drug use. Because that choice was made years ago. We have laws, but we're not enforcing them. And if the government was honest, they'd admit at this point, those laws are largely unenforceable.

We've already slipped down the slope on this and we desperately need to find a way back up. The way I see it is that it's hard choice time. We can continue to ignore the fact that drug use is rampant and that people are wandering around our communities destroying their lives and others with hard drug use, or we can do something radical about it. Believe me, I don't love the idea of safe consumption sites. It just sits wrong with me. But they can at least corral the problem. Dedicated on-site medical staff would take the load off first responders and the medical system. And just as importantly, it would allow us to start enforcing our laws outside of the consumption zones

so that we can feel safer on our streets, in our parks, and on our playgrounds. I know the objections. The government shouldn't condone drug use or be paying for people to use drugs. Well, ignoring the problem is just quietly condoning it. And right now, we're blind eyeing it to the extreme. Look at all the damage. Look at all the crime. Look at the toll on our emergency services, our medical services. They're being pushed to the limits and it's taxpayers that are paying the price because we're the ones funding it. Yet when we need those very services, they're not always available because they're so stretched to the max.

What happens when Joe Taxpayer has a heart attack and has to wait for an ambulance because someone is overdosing at a park? What happens when they can't get a hospital bed? This is costing us more than just dollars. It's costing us lives, and it's not just the lives of addicts. Our backs are against the wall, and whether we like it or not, it's time to be pragmatic. It's time to end the safe consumption site debate once and for all, and get on with some long overdue action well there you go the random ranter for this week and uh be interesting to see who may be listening to that one i don't know have you heard any politicians saying anything about this topic in the last little while could be interesting. All right. You know what?

Let's take a break. We'll come back with the rest of the mailbag, which is varied. There are a lot of different topics discussed here. So as a result, your turn, the bridge. We'll be right back after this. And welcome back. You're listening to The Bridge, the Your Turn Thursday edition, along with the random ranter, right here on Sirius XM channel 167 Canada Talks or on your favorite podcast platform. A reminder that Wednesdays and Thursdays there's a video version of

the podcast available as well. Wednesdays, of course, with Smoke Mirrors and the Truth with Bruce Anderson and Friday's Good Talk with Bruce and Chantelle Hebert. Okay. Let's move it to other topics of discussion by you, our listeners here. Bob Podlasik in Springfield, Illinois. He writes, I'm one of your big fans in flyover country of the U.S. and a recently retired professor after 35 years.

If you were following the happenings in the U.S., your head may be spinning with all the craziness. Yes. Perhaps the most underreported story in the U.S. is the Sam Bankman,

Freed, and Carolyn Ellison Crypto Kinko Ponzi scheme that has illustrated all of the craziness that makes the U.S. culture look a bit perplexing. This case highlights political corruption, woke capitalism, effective altruism, polymory, math majors without a moral compass, privileged children of extremely left-wing faculties at Stanford and MIT, extraordinary journalistic bias, and the list goes on. All right, Bob. You've made your point. And some may even agree with it. But, you know, maybe we'll look at this latest crypto stuff.

Although, you know, we did one show on crypto about two years ago, which basically argued it's an interesting story, but keep your money away from it. That's the last thing we said about it. Clearly, a lot of people didn't take that advice. Tom Levesque writes from Halifax. Since it's on a Wednesday, I always assumed this was the result. Yesterday, when we were talking about smoke mirrors and the truth,

or SMT as we call it, we kind of mentioned how we just use the letters. We use the acronym, right? So Tom writes, since it's on a Wednesday, I always assumed the program SMT was a roll-up of events from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Man, we have some funny offerings each week. Gordon Peters writes from North and More, Prince Edward Island.

Love PEI. Love it. I had a fantastic lobster sandwich in PEI a couple of weeks ago when I was out there on a book tour now lobster schmobster everybody has

lobster sandwiches in PEI right lobster rolls you know lobster in like a hot dog bun anyway I had a great one when I was out there. I don't think there's a possibility there can be a bad one.

I did find out in the last little while that lobster in Scotland is different than lobster in Canada. There's a very different taste to, a very different kind of consistency of the shell of a lobster that's taken out of the waters of the North Sea than the shell of a lobster taken out of the waters around PEI or Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Shell's softer on our side of the ocean, harder over there.

Like you really got to work to crack it i digress gordon writes from pei and this is about the uh the topic we had the other day about saying you know the way to stop climate change is to block the sun right that's an easy thing to do. But Gordon says it could be done relatively easy and relatively cheaply by putting highly reflective particles in the upper atmosphere, either with high-altitude aircraft or rockets. It would cost several billion dollars to do this, but they did say that not only could many governments afford to fund a project like this, but there were several individuals on the planet who have the financial resources to fund a project like this.

But if your calculations were off on how much reflective material was needed, or if an unexpected major volcanic eruption happened with a close time frame, you could potentially set off another year without a summer on a global scale. Yeah, well, that'd be a bit of a gamble, all right. Last week, we had a letter from Dr. Susan Hayden in Saskatoon, and she was concerned about one of the suggestions that Pierre Pelliev was making

that we should try to relax some of the rules about foreign doctors or those with doctor's credits from other countries coming into Canada. We need doctors and you've got to relax some of those regulations. She was, Dr. Hayden was really against that and made her argument. Well, this letter today from Vaughn Stewart, let me see where Vaughn is from. Does he tell us? Yeah, St. Catharines. I'm just going to read part of his letter because he details a whole rack of stuff but let me just read a little bit of it in my view if

canada ontario does not make significant changes in our approach to increasing the number of doctors we will not be successful in improving our health care this might mean the colleges need to be more accepting of qualifications from other first world countries with high standards for certification as they are of ours. We must expand the number of spots for students in medical schools. Although this is a long-term solution, a look at the doctors per thousand population above shows how far behind we are and he included a bunch of stats my daughter attended university queensland medical school one of 21 medical schools in australia in 2009 there were 400 students in her year 85 were from canada a fast-tracked

repatriation plan from some top countries would help with our problem. With immigration targeted at 500,000 next year, we will need more than 1,000 more doctors over and above the replacement of those retiring or leaving, just to stay at our low ratio, doctors to patients. And that may well be every year. So this is an issue out there. And there are clearly different feelings about it. But I appreciate hearing from you on it.

Al Leger from Bobcage in Ontario. I've just recently subscribed to the YouTube podcast on your Friday Good Talk episode with Chantel and Bruce. Magnificent. Chantel's body language adds to her color commentary and elevates the context to new levels. It's like hearing of a bull trampling a person, whereas

the impact can only be grasped by the video footage. Okay, no comment. Elio Pecoraro. I've been listening to the bridge as I do some renovation work on our property in London, Ontario.

You, Chantel, and Bruce, among others on your podcast, augment what I know about federal and provincial politics every week with your observations. I pause and think when I watch a snippet of political events on a newscast. I wasn't aware, for example, that a delayed, seemingly awkward pause could mean simply waiting for a translation when watching two world leaders standing face to face.

On another note, I'd like to thank you, Peter, for sharing your experiences of your father as part of your Remembrance Day thoughts. My father, an Italian soldier, may have ducked for cover as your father's plane flew above. There were interesting experiences on both sides of that conflict. Of that, there is no doubt. Eric Winnick. Eric is in Milton, Ontario.

I have some comments and questions about this past Tuesday's Ukraine episode. It's actually November 15th, so a week ago. There was a lot of talk about negotiations and pressure from certain Western countries to join and start negotiations. My question is why, and has the West forgotten recent history? Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was a nuclear power, being in the top five in terms of numbers of weapons. Ukraine signed on to non-proliferation and disarmed after signing a security guarantee agreement with the U.S., U.K., and Russia.

Clearly, the annexation of Crimea and the full-on invasion earlier this year make that agreement signed in the 90s worthless. Why shouldn't Ukraine negotiate? Who will enforce any new agreement? We already know how well the original one was enforced. Okay. Here's the last two letters for this week. Carolyn Black writes from Waterloo, Ontario. She's writing about the things I mentioned the other day about thank you notes. It was a New York Times article. It was one of the end bits that we regularly do, and it was about how we sort of, you don't see thank you notes anymore. I talked about the little box of thank you notes my mother had left behind

when she passed, blank ones, ready to be used. So Carolyn Black writes from Waterloo, When I was little, my mom insisted that we write thank you notes for all birthday and Christmas presents, even if we were with the person who gave them to us and were able to thank them in person. It was a task that I hated because we had to write the thank you notes in draft, have them approved by my mom, and then write them on proper note cards. To a lesser extent,

writing thank you notes is something I carried on with my daughter when she was young. I have no regrets about going through this. It's about etiquette, which is so often lacking. In the last couple of years, I have given meaningful gifts with no acknowledgement from the recipients, no email or text to say nothing of receiving a proper thank you note. Because of COVID, I wasn't able to give these gifts in person, so I have no idea if they were appreciated. It's taken quite a bit of joy out of the gift-giving ritual and given me pause for thought about whether I give these people gifts another time. As you said, it's such a nice experience to open the mailbox

and see a handwritten envelope. I know how much I appreciate getting personal mail, and so I try to do the same for others. This time of year, it's handwritten Christmas cards with a personalized note. Boy, it sounds like so much like a time from another era, right? Christmas cards. It used to be such a staple of every family. You get special ones each year. Sometimes you get ones with your family's picture on it and all that. But I haven't written a Christmas card in decades. Not proud of that. Just that's what life's been like.

That's how it's changed. And maybe that's taken some of our feelings about our friends and our common acquaintances, taken in a direction we're perhaps not that comfortable with, really. Here's the last letter. It comes from Dawn Dufour in Ottawa. Same topic. Hi, Peter.

I know exactly what you mean about the box of goodies from your mom. My dear mom passed away 10 years ago, and her box of thank you cards and other paper goodies sits proudly in my living room hutch. I am a faithful thank you note writer, as I was taught as a young girl, I always believed that the extra personal touch of handwritten notes is important, and always appreciated. In my experience, feelings evoked while writing the note are just as lovely as those felt by the person receiving it in the mail. I've tried to pass on this time-honored tradition to my children, but feel I don't hold a candle to the high-tech world in which we live. I will nevertheless forge on with my notes, spreading light wherever I can. Thank you, Don.

And thanks to all of you who have written this week on a variety of topics, as you always do. It's always great to hear from you. It's always great to see the country reflected in the different places that your letters have been coming from. So that's it for this week for Your Turn and the Random Rant here. Tomorrow, it's Good Talk with Chantel and Bruce. And then we take a break for the weekend, as we all do, as we slide slowly into the winter darkness, into the winter cold, into the winter snow, at least in many parts of the country.

That's it for this day. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. We will talk to you again in 24 hours.