The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn and the Ranter on Taxes and Doctors

Episode Date: January 19, 2023

You were still on this week about the Ranters suggestion that we all pay higher taxes. But he's moved on by going after doctors.  Seriously.  Also your thoughts on a wide range of issues from Ukraine to Centurions.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday, that means your turn, your thoughts, your letters, your ideas, plus the Random Ranter, coming right up. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge in Toronto for this day. For this day of your turn. Love Thursdays. Love to hear what you have to say about various things we've been discussing and sometimes things we haven't been discussing. You get it all on a Your Turn Thursday. A couple of days ago on monday

we tried something well a little bit different my friend foreign policy analyst janice stein from the monk school the university of toronto uh we both felt that there'd been so much attention on Ukraine, and understandably so in the past year, that a lot of other things were kind of going under the radar. They weren't getting any discussion. So we tried something different. We said, okay, let's pick 10 spots around the world and kind of update the situation on those spots. Because things are happening out there.

It's a big world. And this was our opportunity to do a little bit of catch-up. Well, as you're going to see from the opening mail on your turn, it was a popular idea, but, well, you're about to find out the but. So let's give it a try. Starting with Kevin Sinclair, who writes in, on Monday did a show reviewing current world affairs

that have disappeared from the news cycle. I wish your guess would have brought up to date the situation in Syria. My recollection is that it was frequently in the news until the pandemic. When I Google Syria civil war, the search indicates that there was a ceasefire brokered in the spring of 2020, but Russian special forces and United States troops are still there. What about the Kurdish people and the PKK? Well, Kevin, you're right. Syria is still a story, especially if you live in Syria or in the surrounding area.

But it's a story that the world paid enormous attention to for the years previous to COVID and previous to Ukraine. But your point is, why wasn't it part of the 10? Well, as you're about to find out, there are a number of countries that weren't a part of that opening 10 for what are you missing, what are we missing, which is the way we kind of headlined it. Let's keep going and then I'll let you know something. Sophia Nero writes from Alberta.

Well, no. She's a 22-year-old Albertan now living in Montreal. I was motivated to write by the latest Monday podcast with Janice Stein from the Munk School of Global Affairs, which I adore. It would be great if you could have her or another respected expert in the field on the podcast at least semi-frequently, maybe once every two months. I try to keep up with international politics as much as possible,

but our brains only have so much capacity. That's true. Some of us a lot less than we think. And we can't care about all events, everywhere in the world at all times. This format of round-the-table summation gives us a useful, insightful, and digestible look into events that touch large swaths of the human population. Good idea, Sophia. Erwin Corabo.

Peter, I enjoyed listening to and learning from your conversation with Dr. Janice Stein on Monday. Her comments on each region of the world were indeed informative, but I was particularly struck by the picture she painted of the Middle East zeroing in on Israel. The situation in Israel is very concerning, especially to members of the Jewish diaspora around the world, of which I'm a member. The extreme nationalistic, xenophobic, and anti-democratic values

being expressed by the Netanyahu coalition currently in power deviate from the democratic values we adhere to here in Canada and the United States. For those of your listeners who can access the digital New York Times, I'd highly recommend they read Thomas Friedman's very recent columns on the Israeli political situation. Speaking of Thomas Friedman, he, akin to Bob Woodward, who you interviewed a couple of weeks ago, would be an excellent choice for you to interview on the podcast. Erwin, you're right about that. I'm a huge admirer of Thomas Friedman's work, and maybe we'll give him a call. John Torres from Welland, Ontario.

I just finished listening to your latest episode, What Are We Missing?, and was disappointed not to hear any discussion of Peru. I know South America is not a part of the world that a lot of people here in North America concern themselves about, but it is a story that should be discussed. With the removal of President Castillo for alleged, of course nothing has been proved against him, crimes of rebellion and conspiracy, to all the protests from the working class Peruvians against the new president and Peruvian elite, it is something I believe should be discussed.

Okay, Syria, Peru. Ed Fontaine from Vancouver. Loved the interview with Janice Stein thoroughly. Brought to mind a time at the age of five when I loved to listen to some 78 RPM records. Not sure where this is going. One of my faves was a story about two children taking a magic carpet ride around the world and looking down at the countries from above. Janice's commentary about what's going on was so informative.

Thanks for that. That's where it was going. Janice Stein's Magic Carpet Ride. I'll have to remember that. And Gordon Henderson writes from Beaverbrook, Ontario. Okay, this is sort of, this is a different topic. I'll read your letter, Gordon, in a second. But let me just wrap up this issue about what we were missing.

We had a number of letters, aside from the ones we've already had, pointing to other countries as well. Let me remind you, this was kind of an experiment, the what are we missing idea. And we did limit it to 10 countries. We could have gone on. I mean, there are hundreds of countries in our world and there's lots of things going on in many of them. But the suggestion that I think it was Sophia made, why don't you think about this on a more regular basis? And you know what? That's what we've been thinking this week.

Maybe we ask Janice to come in once a month or once every six weeks, and we do the same kind of thing. Don't feel that when we isolate 10, we're saying those are the most important 10. We're trying to do a kind of look around the world, take that magic carpet ride. And maybe that's a good idea that we consider continuing to do that in the future going forward. So I'll keep that in mind. I think it's, you know, we kind of lucked into that concept,

and it's kind of fun. All right, moving on. it's kind of fun. All right, moving on. Let's get to Gordon Henderson's letter from Beaverbrook, Ontario. Gordon says he's a big fan of the podcast, especially Tuesdays and Fridays. So he's a fan of Brian Stewart and clearly Bruce Anderson and Chantelle Hebert on Friday's Good Talk. Thank you for bringing sage wisdom and great analysis to your platform, he says.

Now, here's his point about this week's Brian Stewart commentary. I'm truly disturbed, says Gordon, by Brian Stewart's parting words on the global trend of the largest military build-up in history. That's true. That was really, if you listen to Tuesdays, if you haven't heard it, go back and listen to it. And at the end, Brian talks about we are living through the largest military build-up in the history of the world. Back to Gordon's letter. Knowing the geopolitical dangers inherent in war itself and the possible repercussions of this build-up has me fearing Back to Gordon's letter. several years of online education due to COVID. He's being encouraged to return to school for his betterment. The threat of war and the very real possibility of the use of conscription

to shore up our armed forces makes me think that school is a safe place to be in the immediate future for our young. I hope things do not go sideways. We have lived a truly privileged existence here in Canada all my peaceful life. Yeah, haunting memories of the conscription crisis in Canada during the two world wars of the last century. Sean Bennett. Sean's in Saskatoon. This is interesting. There were quite a few letters about this. Brian had talked on his commentary on Tuesday about what he saw as

the modern day centurions. Okay? And he was talking about mercenaries. So listen to this. Sean writes from Saskatoon, Listen to your Tuesday show, great as always. Just wanted to make note of when you and Brian were talking about centurions. Centurions were like the officers within the Legion, the name coming from organizing troops within a sentry group of a hundred,

led by their officer, the Centurion. The numbers of troops in the sentries changed over the centuries, but each Centurion helped from the officer corps, with the most senior Centurion usually being the most professional and experienced soldier in the camp, even over their senatorial generals. They did gather more power and influence during the empire, in one case being directly involved in putting a new emperor on the throne. More famously, however, are the Praetorian Guard.

They're the ones who increasingly centralized their power and began having direct say over emperors' lifespans. The most egregious example being when they led a bidding war for the throne in the later empire. Perhaps in contrast to them, and to thread this along with the mercenary theme I thought of with your Wagner group discussion, is the Waringen Guard. The Praetorians were disbanded at the end. This is like a history lesson, right? The Praetorians were disbanded at the end of the third century. Crisis two. I'm going to get this right yet. The Praetorian Guard were disbanded at the end of the third century crisis. Too much backstabbing,

and a trend of hiring mercenary bodyguards became a thing. The Varangians are the most famous example of a mercenary group that displayed absolute loyalty to their imperial patrons, which can be seen as them being in a foreign land with only one avenue of protection, perhaps some food for thought about mercenary loyalty. Loved the episode. I hope you found this interesting.

I tried not to get carried away with writing an essay. No, but you wrote a great little piece of history. And you know what? It turns out that here at the Bridge, we have a lot of listeners who are also very, very familiar with the history of the Roman Empire. Because that was, Sean's letter was just one of quite a few. I'll read a couple of them that came in. So let me carry on.

Hold on a second. What have i got here okay um i'll and get ready for it because brian has a response to these letters which you're going to want to hear um what's the next one? Andrew Phillips. He actually was so into this, he wrote a couple of letters. Hello, Peter, really enjoying the bridge, having tuned in for the first time just after Christmas. One correction for Tuesday's episode, it was the Praetorians, not Centurions,

who made and disposed of Roman emperors. Otherwise, an astute historical parallel and a real caution for Putin. Then he wrote later, the Praetorian Guard were the bodyguard of the Roman emperors who became infamous for assassinating emperors to elevate a candidate of their choosing. An example is the murder of Caligula in 41 AD and the proclamation of Claudius as his successor. The centurions, by contrast, were the professional officers of the Roman Empire, of the Roman army.

Hope that's helpful. Andrew. We got another one here? Yeah, we do. It's from Michael Berrio. Not to distract or detract from Mr. Stewart's outstanding commentary, I believe he meant the Praetorians, the Varangians, and later Eastern Roman Empire, not the Centurions. All right. So let's get Brian's response

Brian loves his history too this group of people and there were others as I mentioned you know we should put them all in a I don't know we should put them in the room together and let them have it out on Roman history. But here's Brian. If one wants to draw strict parallels, the centurions of Rome would be paired with military mercenaries of today,

such as the Wagner Group, although centurions were elite legionnaires and served for years and were much more disciplined, while the Praetorian Guard would be compared to the Russian Rosgavardia, the 180,000 special national guard created by Putin in 2016 to protect the President, Parliament, and the Kremlin inner circle. Somewhat worrisome for Putin, the Rosgavardia has been showing signs of unhappiness in recent months, with some units having been sent to Ukraine.

Not what they signed on for. Their ranks insist. So, and then Brian wrote again too, to add to his argument, the Praetorian guards were the inner bodyguard for the emperor's person, but the centurions were mercenaries fighting foreign wars. They were splendid fighters, but became powers in themselves in the later empire. The French in Algeria sometimes referred to their paras as centurions. Some of them and a foreign legion union tried to overthrow the government of de Gaulle.

I got a feeling if we did put these people together, it would not be resolved. This argument sounds like it could go on for a while. But nevertheless, a good one, right? Okay, what do we got here? We got quite a few notes on on the ranters rant still about taxes from a couple of weeks ago. The ranter felt

we should all pay more taxes. And last week we had an enormous number of letters from people saying, right on man, you got it. That is the case. And those some letters are still coming in on taxes. Not all in favor, though.

Nelson Zader from Calgary. I listened with astonishment to the emails that you received from listeners expressing their willingness to pay higher taxes. The good news is that your listeners, that were so enthusiastic about paying more of their money to pay higher taxes. The good news is that your listeners, that were so enthusiastic about paying more of their money to the government, need not defer this joyous act. All provincial governments and the government of Canada will take gifts, donations of money from taxpayers at any time.

Those wishing to have the immediate satisfaction of contributing extra money to the social fabric of Canadian society need not delay the pleasure of that experience any longer. Please be sure and pass this information along to each of your listeners and the ranter who are so enthusiastic about paying more taxes. I certainly appreciate their generosity. As for me, I'm happy to pay the taxes that I lawfully owe, but always adhere to the principle that governments of all stripes have an insatiable appetite for money. Politicians are never afraid of reaching into Canadians' pockets

when they have the opportunity to do so and don't need any more encouragement from citizens. Nelson Zader. Yas Pirawal from Surrey, B.C. I wanted to write in about the episode on taxes. I was not surprised that most of the audience was in favor of higher taxes because I assume the audience is more informed and maybe a bit more well-to-do than the average Canadian.

Before higher taxes, the government needs to make people at least feel that there is less waste. The bigger issue is tax fraud and avoidance, and not just by the rich. Many average Canadians and small business routinely cheat on taxes, but would any MP dare get up and say this? Doctors, mechanics, carpenters now all incorporate not a crime, but it works to lessen the tax burden. Enforcement is too hard, and the tax code to complex making things simpler. Excuse me. Enforcement is, I'm not reading very well today, am I?

Enforcement is too hard, and the tax code too complex. Making things simpler at the source is the key. It's so easy to try to buy the votes of the uninformed and uninterested electorate with tax credits. True tax fairness would be something like having a progressive tax system, but flatten the rates so not an outright flat income tax. Okay. Michael Patch from Victoria. Just listen to the ranter.

This was last week's rant about Ukraine and that we weren't doing enough. Just listen to the ranter. He was completely right on taxes the week before last, and he's right about Ukraine now. Ukraine was not a paragon of democratic virtue before the invasion, but it was on an upward tick track. We know Mr. Putin thought it was getting too cozy with the rest of Europe, which was part of his choice to invade. Now it's up to the West to show its mettle, ramp up support even further, provide the weapons systems the Ukrainian military needs, make it absolutely clear to the Russian government

that the price of this invasion is simply too high. Well, the current want from the Ukrainians as tanks, they're getting them from some places. Canada, Anita Anand, the Minister of Defence, was in Kiev yesterday and announced that we were donating another 200 armoured vehicles, not tanks, but armoured personnel carriers. We do have tanks, Leopard 2 tanks and there's kind of an increasing suggestion on the part of a number of analysts especially

that Canada can give up some of those tanks Leopard 2 tanks and should donate them to the Ukrainians we'll see if that happens we have, Brian's reported this for the last couple of weeks in his commentary we've got more than 80 Leopard 2 tanks and We'll see if that happens. Brian's reported this for the last couple of weeks in his commentary.

We've got more than 80 Leopard 2 tanks. And the feeling on the part of many analysts is that we could spare anywhere from a couple to a half a dozen or so of those tanks. We'll see if that happens. Jonathan Hamilton from Carstairs, Alberta. I've been listening to The Bridge for about four months and this is my first time writing in. I was blown away at the listener's response to the ranter on paying more taxes. I am not in favor of this idea. Before we just throw money at a problem, we need to make sure the system is running well. The amount of waste in any large enterprise, public or private,

is unbelievable. This is just the nature of the beast. Reducing waste is what we need to focus on first. I'm close friends with four nurses and they all tell me the same thing on this issue. I'm not for cutting taxes, but I sure don't want to pay more since I'm already paying 47%. I would bet that most people don't know what they actually pay in tax, and for the ranter to just randomly say he thinks we all need to pay more is a simple idea to fix a complex problem. This statement sounded more like a grab for attention. I don't think so. That's not the way the ranter works.

And, you know, I know how the ranter would probably respond to that letter. He'd say, okay, maybe it's a simple idea. So is cutting waste. That's a pretty simple idea. Well, maybe they both are. Anyway, Jonathan, thanks for that letter, and thanks for pointing out in your PS that your father-in-law, Bob Chartier,

or Chartier, says hello. And Bob and I were in Churchill at the same time in the late 1960s. So that goes back a long way. So we've got more ranter letters, and we've got the ranter coming up on something else. And believe me, it's going to cause a bit of a storm too.

Connor Whalen writes from Flushton, Ontario. I would have to disagree for now on the raising tax issue. When inflation is this high, interest rates going up this quickly with the likelihood of another small increase and a possibility of recession in the coming year, this would be a terrible time to raise taxes. Economically not a sound idea. I'm not against raising taxes once we're through all that,

but the onus needs to be on the government to convince us it will actually go to good use. With the amount of waste pointed out by the PBO, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, a 30.7% increase in federal government hires since 2015, along with a 60% increase in consultant fees, we have to ask what we're getting for this money. An easy out would be to give more taxes. Like the PM is arguing with health care, throwing more money at a broken system is not always the answer. It seems we need to find a way to be more efficient with the money we do spend than simply throwing more at the problem. Here's the last one.

The last one on this, on the ranter. It's funny, eh? We brought the ranter in in, I don't know, September. And each week, the ranter generates a lot of action on your part. Pam McDermott from Burlington. This week's rant about Ukraine was spot on. This is last week. His lethal MacGyver's description of the Ukrainians made me laugh,

even though the invasion the Ukrainians are enduring is not taken lightly by any of us. I've also heard this war described as a proxy war. It'd be interesting to talk to President Zelensky on whom might replace Putin. The palace intrigue must be thick enough for Putin to trip on his paranoia. I bet.

That would be an excellent interview for you. You know, I don't know. A lot of them here, Zelensky has been, you know, begging to get on the bridge. And I'm saying, yeah, you get in the line, man. Get in the line. We got all kinds of people who want to be on the bridge. Obviously, if President Zelensky would agree to an interview on the bridge.

We almost had him, not that long ago, but it didn't quite work out. We've got a big guest coming up on Monday, big guest. Not President Zelensky level, but pretty important to a number of big issues that have been going on in this country on the international scene. So look for that on Monday, this coming Monday. All right. We're going to take a little break here. We've had a big run of letters on the ranter,

so what better time to bring in the ranter for this week. And the ranter certainly picks the topics right and he picks the position everyone's like taxes we thought he was going to get hammered on taxes but it ran about i don't know 70 30 in favor of the rancher's position on time for higher taxes this one I'm not so sure. You know, when Canadians are polled or researched in terms of which professions they admire the most, always up near the top, the top is usually nurses. And right after that is doctors. Okay. Doctors. after that is doctors okay doctors get ready for the random ranter here he goes i think the reason we don't have enough doctors is largely the fault of doctors. Let's face it, the system is designed

and run in a way that allows doctors to control every aspect of doctoring. The system is a hierarchy. It's like some kind of medieval doctor's guild. It's doctors who decide who and how many doctors will be trained. And how about the civil servants in charge of doctors? Guess what? They tend to be doctors too. The provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons? Well, they're just self-regulating bodies of doctors that work for the benefit of, you guessed it, doctors. Not future doctors. They claim to be advocates for a better healthcare system,

but come on, they're just protecting their turf. It's doctors, doctors, doctors. And the doctors that wanted more funding for training, they lost out to the doctors who wanted more money for their services. And the government, while regardless of political stripe, provincial and federal governments have for years been too busy focusing on the next election to care about the future. So they were fine with it. And that's a mistake. Because for 50 years, we've seen the boomer generation coming. And it's here now like a tsunami, crashing like so many broken hips on the medical system. And we're not equipped to handle it. To be clear, I'm not slagging individual doctors. In my experience, I've found doctors to be

incredible high achievers, brilliant, committed, and caring. But being brilliant doesn't preclude you from bias, and being committed doesn't make you immune to self-interest. What I'm saying is that doctors have cared more about getting paid in the present than they have about ensuring that the system is sustainable. Remember, I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about the system as a whole. It's really one of those don't hate the players, hate the game scenarios. And count me as hating the game. Because the game has let society down and it's royally screwing a lot of young people who want to become doctors. They're qualified, they have the grades, they have the volunteer hours, they've put in the work, but there's no place for them here. I'm talking about

some of the best and brightest. This is not a labor shortage where the industry is clamoring for workers. There's lots of willing and able candidates, but the system we have to train doctors has failed at producing enough of them. And that system, well, like I said, it's run by doctors. We're reaching situation critical. Emergency rooms are at the breaking point. It's impossible to get a family doctor in many regions. Yet I continue to read articles about prospective doctors opting to leave the country to pursue their studies. It's a travesty because the last time I checked, I thought we were the kind of country other people send their kids to for advanced education. And what's more advanced than medicine? What's more

vital? The tragic thing about this is that the shortage of doctors isn't just hard on society, it's hard on doctors. We've got a limited supply and booming demand. Doctors are getting work to the bone. The ones that are working in ERs or in overwhelmed family practices, they're getting chewed up and spit out while they're trying to start a life, start a family, pay off their student loans. They're getting destroyed by the workload. So when you finally do get to see a doctor, are they really at their best? I certainly don't begrudge doctors their pay. They work long and hard. They run what is essentially a small business.

They have a ton of expenses, rent, employees, equipment, insurance, plus they pay taxes. They certainly contribute more to society than this random ranter, but it doesn't change the fact that we don't have enough of them. And it doesn't change the fact that their profession is no better than the rest of society, short-sighted and self-interested all right um you know what you want rants that's a rant i can't wait to see the incoming on that one all right right, quick break, then we're back. And when we're back, more of Your Turn. And welcome back. Peter Mansbridge here in Toronto on this day.

You're listening to The Bridge, the Your Turn Thursday edition. You're listening on Sirius XM channel 167 Canada Talks or on your favorite podcast platform. And of course, Wednesdays and Fridays, so like tomorrow, the program is also available on our YouTube channel and you can find it by simply going to my biog on either Twitter or Instagram, and you get a link. No charge. It's free if you want to watch the show in production.

Believe me, it's not that exciting to watch it in production, but it can be interesting to watch it in terms of the content. Let's get back to your letters and there are there are lots of them so let me try to zip through these as quickly as possible uh jessica kirpatrick writes and she writes from fort good hope northwest territories and i can i can say this is the first time we've had a letter from Fort Good Hope. At 25, I grew up in the generation who were shown black pig's lungs stained with nicotine and taught that smoking cigarettes was the worst thing you could do to yourself. It worked.

I've never smoked anything in my life, and there's nothing that would convince me to change. Even as legislation regarding cigarettes became stricter and stricter throughout the 2000s, I always got the sense that the societal acceptance, the disdain was the accepted attitude for cigarettes, was complete. What was that societal shift like? Was it a heated debate, an overnight change? Was it a gradual, imperceptible change. And this is being asked with more and more discussion surrounding alcohol and its potential dangers to society and its dangers to society. Actually, I'm old enough to remember what that societal shift was like. It wasn't overnight. It was gradual over a number of years when health authorities started getting serious about trying to get at smoking.

I'll give you one example because you know me, I love to talk about aviation. I love to talk about planes. And I can recall when the first ban on smokers on airplanes took place. It wasn't an overall ban. It was a gradual ban. There was a smoking section on the plane, usually near the front, actually. And it started off at around six or seven rows. You had to book one of those seats if you wanted to smoke on the flight. And then that became five or six rows, then four or five rows,

then three, then two, and eventually an all-out ban on smokers. So this was a gradual thing. It was the same in offices. There were smoking rooms where you were allowed to smoke, and then there were none. And then you had to stand on the street corner. And people weren't too excited about that. And that's still the case now.

And you'll go by certain office buildings and you'll see people who've been kicked outside if they want to smoke. But very few. So it was a gradual, but it was a societal shift. There is no question about that. Dallas McDougall writes from Brisbane, Australia, and this is on the issue of public and private health care. And I won't read all of Dallas's letter. It's a great letter but um it's a long

letter and as we say we like to try and keep these short um but dallas a canadian who moved to australia and and uh and here's what is in the letter moving to australia there is a private public mix all australians always have access to the public system, but can choose to go private and pay or purchase private health insurance anytime without giving up access to the public system. It works. Sure, there are issues like everywhere, but the wait times in the public system are shortened by those who choose to go private. In the private system, there are some wait times, but often limited, which is good.

Linnea Ward. I've been thinking about how there didn't seem to be much pushback when Canada decided to phase out pennies from our currency. Why did they do that? And was this change actually beneficial in hindsight? I never did fully understand why, and it still doesn't make any sense to me. Sense to me. Linnea, here's what I recall. This is what I remember, and I think it's right. It was actually costing more than a penny to produce a penny.

And I think it's getting that way with a nickel. Plus the general decline in the use of coins and currency in general. But I think that's why we ran out of pennies. Cost more than a penny to make a penny. It's like the old, you know, our quarters and dimes used to be real real silver i still have a whole stack of them that i hoarded that i saved well whole stack i don't know a couple hundred dollars worth um and it costs more than a quarter to make a quarter because of the silver content when silver started to go up in i guess that would have been the early 70s. So that's the case.

So now our quarters and dimes aren't made of silver, as you can see. Rob McPherson writes from Vancouver, BC. I listened to your discussion of Pierre Poliev on Smoke Mirrors and the Truth with Bruce Anderson yesterday. Two things struck me. The clip with his rant on Parliamentary Press Gallery made me want to laugh, cry and gag all at the same time.

What he really means is that he doesn't want to talk to any media that checks his facts. And even worse, who have a job to be up to date on what he's talking about so they can fact check in real time. He wants to give speeches and have them talking about so they can fact check in real time he wants to give speeches and have them reported as if they were true the second clip you played with the ever so tasteful background music on carbon pricing which does work by the way according to any number of studies and about supporting the development of alternative energy production was also peculiar his list of things we should support, small modular reactors, carbon capture, critical minerals, etc., were all listed as policy items by people like Trudeau, Freeland, and even Guilbeau in the past few months. And Trudeau even

seems to be on a constant tour of critical mineral and battery production facilities to give financial support. Is Polyev saying that the current government is actually on the right track and that the CPC platform will shift to the liberal one? Good question, Rob. Here's another Rob. Rob Bjarnason in Carberry, Manitoba. I can certainly identify with thoughts and reactions today on Mr. Polyev's talking points over the past couple of days.

Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't it a Raja Canada investigative reporter that enlightened us on the large federal spending increase to consultants? I guess Mr. Polyev should thank that government-funded, gatekeeping-supported news organization for their non-partisan reporting. As long as it provides fodder for his hyperbole and rhetoric-filled oration, Pierre will obviously accept the help. I try to keep an open mind, but mostly he is simply just in bashing and looking for a soundbite, his efforts do little to contribute to meaningful discussion. Where's this one coming from? Laura Travosi from Blue Mountain, Ontario. We love the Blue Mountain area.

I know this is a Canada-wide podcast, but I really, as an Ontarian, have been feeling like we are headed to a complete meltdown in Ontario and don't know how this is going to get fixed. I'm seriously troubled by the current state of our health care system, education system, and the state of our environment, including the farmlands we're demolishing for the actions of the current government. Laura, I don't feel bad about living in Ontario and wanting Ontario issues discussed. It's just like Albertans. We discuss a lot of Alberta issues as well. And BC issues. But it is a national program. And there are times at which other parts of the country say,

you know what, I've heard enough about Ontario, or I've heard enough about Alberta, and so we try to find what is the comfortable middle ground on discussing these things and others as well, and we'll keep trying to do that. We talked about Ontario just yesterday. Candy Kostner in Winnipeg. After listening today, I felt inclined to comment on the Mumbai-based Dream 11's policy of fining employees who interrupt their colleagues' vacation time. This was on

Tuesday's NBITS. Being connected versus not being connected all time is a work balance to navigate. Some may say their job is so demanding that they have to be on call during vacation. That mentality makes me wonder at what cost. The way I see it, never unplugging from work can lead to burnout, both mentally and physically, as well as strained personal relationships due to the demands of the job. Obviously, this is not healthy for the employee. It also isn't healthy for the employer.

Burnout leads to absences, lower productivity, higher turnover rates. Bigger question, is someone truly that indispensable that they cannot take a vacation? You know what? Nobody's indispensable. Everybody is replaceable. And we should all remind ourselves of that every once in a while. James Grubb, wrote from Toronto. He's 30 years old, and he was intrigued by the housing discussion we had a couple of weeks ago. I guess it was only a week ago. Last Friday's episode, Bruce's remarks on housing costs came with a caveat that I find incredibly frustrating, that house prices coming down doesn't work for all those people for whom the accumulation of value

in their home has been a really important economic story. I'm sorry if I have little sympathy for the retired couple who may have to sell their GTA, that's Toronto, home that they bought for $75,000 and sell it for $1.6 million instead of $2.2 million in the event of a market crash. They will be fine. James makes a number of other arguments, but that's certainly one of the key ones. Joanne Bamford writes, I live in Wing Fleet, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Erie. Here it seems to be a very right-leaning area politically, and I am one of a few left-leaning people living in this area.

In the past, I wouldn't have noticed such a thing, but lately and since the pandemic, there are people flying F. Trudeau flags, upside-down Canadian flags, and right-wing candidates' signs on their lawns. It makes me sick. I bumped into a neighbor of mine, a nice gentleman that lives alone. It seems that he's a liberal-minded as well and confided in me that I was the only person he's met here

in the area that isn't truly a big C conservative. He was glad to find out that he's not alone in his convictions and values as a liberal. Avoiding politics as a conversation with anybody around here is the best thing to do for me, because I feel that many people have very strong views, whether they are misguided or not. You know, that is not the world we want to live in.

We want to live in a world where we can acknowledge, appreciate, and respect differing views. That's how we move forward, by listening to each other. And it's difficult if we're going to live in a situation where views are so rigid, so polarized, that we can't even talk to each other. That's not a good place to be. Hopefully we can work ourselves through this situation, this current trend.

Anthony Baruta from Calgary. I've resisted writing for a while. I didn't want to be one of those Albertans. Alas, much of what you have covered recently is near and dear to my heart, and I'd like to share my thoughts. I'm a third-generation petroleum production engineer, just out of school and working in the oil fields of northern Alberta. Much of the recent political bickering in both Edmonton and Ottawa

regarding the future of Canadian oil as well as climate action has me feeling incredibly discouraged. I like to call myself the politically homeless oil man, as I cannot bring myself to support a provincial party nor its federal counterpart who entertains the likes of the Freedom Convoy. However, the alternatives also leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The science regarding climate change is clear and it is the biggest challenge of my generation we'll face, but to face it properly, we must disconnect from such divisive politics and take the time to listen to our fellow Canadians. Good for you, Anthony.

You're right about that. Okay, here's the last letter for today. Marilyn Wakefield. That's a good one. Peter, I love your show. That's a cliche, but it's right. We are living in TN, which I'm assuming that means Tennessee. We're living in Tennessee, originally from Cambridge, Ontario, and really enjoy getting our daily touch of home. My question is, you have amazing guests, so wise, so experienced, and so clear with what they share.

As this wealth of knowledge matured, who is waiting in the wings to replace these wise, wise Canadians? You know what? There's lots of people waiting in the wings to replace those or these wise wise canadians you know what there's lots of people waiting in the wings listen to our last letter from anthony and in calgary he's a young guy he's wise he's thinking for the future of his community, his province, his country. So they're out there. You know, I'm of a certain generation that I'm naturally attracted to others of my generation who I've worked with over the years, but not exclusively. I like to hear the feelings, and that's one of the great things about your turn. They come from all ages, right?

And so too are some of our guests. There's a lot of great thinking out there, a lot of wise people of all ages. And this show tries to reflect them, right? But I'm glad you're listening in Tennessee, and I'm glad you're respecting those who we do have on the program as wise, and hopefully we'll continue to hit that as the marker when we're looking for guests. Okay, tomorrow, Friday, it's Good Talk, the marker when we're looking for gas. Okay. Tomorrow, Friday, it's good talk, Chantelle Hebert.

Bruce can't make it tomorrow. He's got a conflict with one of his business appointments. So my friend and somebody you've heard before on this program, Rob Russo, the former Ottawa Bureau Chief for the CBC, a former Canadian Press Bureau Chief in both Ottawa and I think in Washington as well. He'll be along with us. And he was reported out of Quebec City for CP as well. So Rob's been around, knows the file,

and he'll be with us tomorrow along with Chantel. So that's it for this day. A reminder, Monday, you want to listen to Monday's program. Maybe I'll mention just who we'll have as a guest tomorrow. That's it for this day. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you again, 24 hours. Thank you.