The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn - Ask Me Anything (3)

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

It's our last week of the month's Ask Me Anything episode. This segment has become quite popular with you grilling me, and me trying to answer! And of course as he does every week the Random Ranter's rant of the week, this time about the NDP. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday. It's your turn, which this week, last week of the month, isn't asked me anything week. Plus, the random ranter, they're all here coming right up. And hello there. Last week of the month. Actually, March kind of drags over into the first day of next week.

But this is the last full week of March. 2026. gone already Q1 almost over first quarter of 2026 so

what does that mean it means for this Thursday isn't ask me anything week and once again you had a lot of questions we're going to get right to them but with this reminder

ask me anything's involved answers as well as questions and statements from you and that means it turns up a lot of time. As a result, what you need to keep in mind is we're not going to get through all these questions. But we're not going to throw them out. We'll keep them. Once we don't get to, we'll keep until next month.

And we'll see how that goes. All right. But let's get started. A reminder of the ranter will be by, you know, roughly halfway through the program today. and he's got some interesting thoughts about the NDP actually from his prairie vantage point. Our letters start with Lucas Tamowski in Ottawa. I recently started university and I'm having a lot of trouble staying motivated to do all my assignments and my readings. I was wondering if you had some tips to try and stay consistent with my work, even on days where I don't feel like doing anything.

Well, that's a very different kind of question for me, and I'm not sure I'm the right guy to try and answer a student of university. I, you know, I didn't have that experience. I'm not proud of that. I wish I had gone to university, but I didn't. Didn't have the marks to get in. So I don't have an academic answer for you, but I was in daily journalism for 50 years,

and that meant trying to stay motivated day in and day out. Your question's about, motivation. Well, consistency was important. Part of the answer, I think, is time management. Plan on when you're going to do things and then do them. Journalism is a deadline business, and deadlines keep you focused. You should be setting your own deadlines. Keep them. Don't set the very last minute is your deadline. Give yourself some breathing room. Aim to finish your assignments earlier than you have to. Then you never have to panic,

which can turn what might actually be a pleasant assignment into a race against the clock. That's never fun. That was one of the reasons I never got to university because that's what I did in high school and it didn't work. Al Rowe, he's in Toronto. He says he's a singer, guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and music educator.

Has asked me anything question is, what was the last concert you attended and how was it? You know, I'm not a big concert goer, but I do see, I have seen some in my time. The last concert I was at was actually my wife's, Cynthia Dale, her concert in Toronto. That would have been like 2024, 2023, somewhere in there. and it was huge success. It was wonderful. But if you're thinking of like big name rock bands, probably the last kind of concert like that that I saw

was the tragically hip in Toronto. At the, I was then called the Air Canada Center, now called the Scotia Bank Arena. And I actually, Gord Downey asked me if I'd introduce them. And I did. I introduced them that night and it was like, it was great something being up on that stage with them. It was amazing.

The hip. Can't beat that. Don Whitamore in Colonna, BC. My question is, have you ever considered putting the link? for your NBits articles in your Saturday News Watch newsletter. Many of us listen to the pod while driving, walking, or working out. By the time we finish, we forget what your source was. Many times I want to follow up.

You can't rewind. Sorry. That's an interesting idea. I might consider doing that. We'll see. It's an idea. And, you know, not a bad idea. If you don't know anything about the weekly newsletter,

it's called The Buzz, comes out every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Eastern time. Go straight into your mailbox, your inbox. And it's just a collection of articles that I've read during the week that I thought were, you know, really interesting. It could be from anywhere. I need different articles from different parts. of the world. So I put them together and put them out on my newsletter and you can subscribe to that no charge by going to National Newswatch.com slash newsletter. All you have to do is put your email down. But that's the way you do it. Okay. Norma Jack in Stovell, Ontario. When did the bridge start?

who came up with the idea. I think it was started in 2019, around the time of the election at that point, and it looked like just a one-off. We weren't going to, it wasn't going to be a permanent thing. It was just an idea to do election talk. And, and I think it was Willie's idea,

my son, who occasionally hosts the program when I'm, I can't make it. So that's when it got going. And then shortly after that, Sirius XM, the satellite radio network, was impressed with it, liked it, and wanted to put it on their schedule.

And so that's the first airing of the bridge every day is on Sirius XM. At 12 noon, Channel 167, Canada Talks. That's where you get it. and then as that goes to air on Sirius XAM, it's also released as a podcast. And then on Tuesdays and Fridays, it's also released on YouTube.

So it's become extremely popular. And I thank you for that. B.J. B.J. B.J. B.J. I'm completely puzzled about how some people in a very few provinces want to pursue separation from Canada. What I really don't understand is how separation from Canada could take place when there's land belonging to our First Nations peoples who had original agreements with the crown within those provinces.

Listen, the indigenous issue is certainly alive in all talk of separation. It was alive in both the Quebec referendums, 1980 and 1995. In both cases, indigenous groups made the same. same point you make, that they have agreements with the crown and they wanted no part of separation from Canada. Although separatist leaders usually insist that, you know, their provincial boundaries are firm and fixed, others point out that if a country is divisible, so surely is a province divisible.

In any case, what all this means is that if there ever is a clear vote on a clear question, the standard set by the Supreme Court and by the Federal Clarity Act for a province to separate, that would start the negotiation process. You can be sure the issue of indigenous rights would be part of any such negotiation. Raj Krishnan in Markham, Ontario. Markham is a northern suburb of Toronto. I've often wondered how it is that certain tragedies are given so much attention so much more attention than others.

How do news agencies determine the priority of what comes on the news? Well, for starters, the media is not a monolith, so all news agencies have different priorities, and they make different decisions, and that's good. However, there's certainly no formula you can apply or a reference book you can consult. News editors have a feel or just know which tragedies to cover more. than others.

That sounds awkward, right? But hear me out. Some common sense rules would be to first remember the expression that all news is local. That means we care about things that are close to us. There's a good example this week from that Air Canada jet that collided with a fire truck in New York. Two people were killed. That kind of tragedy would warrant prominent coverage for sure, but it got extraordinary coverage here because it was an Air Canada jet.

By extraordinary, I mean front page of every newspaper in the country, top billing on every nightly newscast, minute-by-minute coverage on the news networks. It pushed the war in Iran out of the limelight for a time. Obviously, the further away you get, the less coverage there would be. I'm sure in Australia or the Philippines, the accident would be covered, but not to the same extent. And it wouldn't get the same coverage here if it had been, say, a Delta plane that was involved.

In fact, a plane crashed in Columbia on the same day as the Air Canada jet. 66 people were killed in that accident. I'm betting most of you never even heard about that crash. Of course, numbers matter if everyone on the plane had been killed, then it would have been more prominently covered around the world. In the same way, a student plane. that kills, say, 10 people in Asia wouldn't get as much coverage in Canada as a tsunami that killed 1,000 people. There are other things to consider, but that is a start.

Margaret Robinson and Ottawa, with your regular travel to and from northern Scotland, you must have some great travel advice. Best airline, route, and times for flying, best way to get around in Scotland, hidden gems not to be missed. would also love to hear how you ended up with a home there. Help me plan my upcoming trip. It's pretty easy to get to Scotland. You can fly direct from Air Canada, from Toronto.

And I think, possibly from Vancouver, I'm not sure. But you can fly direct to Edinburgh from Toronto. So being right away, you're in Scotland. And you've only been on one airline, and it's one of the best in the world. I am a big Air Canada booster, always have been. I know some people have trouble with that, but I'm not one of them.

Or you can go through London, through Heathrow, which is an experience in itself, and then catch a British Airways flight or one of the other airlines. You see jet, I think, flies, and there are other ones, up to Scotland, whether it's to Edinburgh,

or to Glasgow or to Inverness, which is where I go to Inverness. And then it's by car. And if you're driving, you've got to get used to driving on the other side of the road. And that, you know, that takes a while. Not as long as you might think, but it does take a minute to get your head around

that you're on the other side of the road. But Scotland is a fantastic place. You can't go wrong in Scotland and drive the whole country. Take the North Coast 500. they call it, it just swings right around the whole coastline in northern Scotland. And it's fantastic. Small community after small community,

fantastic people, scenery that'll blow your mind. I started going to Scotland because of the Gulf, which is what the next story is about. Next letter. Brian Hoyle in Bedford, Nova Scotia, New Scotland. I've heard you're a member of Royal Dornick. True are the courses as amazing as they look.

I'm planning a family golf trip to Scotland in October of 2027. Any chance of playing around with you? Royal Dornick is one of the best courses in the world. Depending which ranking you use, it's in the top five. In the world, right? It's a great, great course. And our home is very close to Dornick. So obviously, and I'm a member at Dornick, so I don't book ahead for golf that far ahead anyway of October 27.

But I hope you enjoy your trip. You can't go wrong on a golf course in Scotland. It's very different. It's very different than North American golf. You know, it's very windy. You've got to learn to hit low shots. I'm still trying to do that. and you get a lot of run with the ball,

hit properly. Okay, here are two questions. Actually, we're going to ask these ones together because they're kind of similar. Matthew Scalarzic and Vernon B.C., I'd love to learn about a hobby or interests you enjoy completely unrelated to your profession. Reading of history or commercial aviation,

something you've never mentioned before. What does Peter Mansour's like to do? for fun in his time away from it all. And Michael Ardendale in Sudbury. Picture this, you're at home, and you're just finishing, uploading the bridge to where it needs to go. You look at your schedule.

You have nothing for the rest of the day. How do you spend your days? What do you do to relax? Okay, two questions similar. There are a few answers. I love to sit outside and just study nature. And whether that's in Scotland or Stratford or even on the balcony in downtown Toronto,

I can do that. I can just sit and enjoy the world around me. If weather says you've got to be inside, what I've been doing in the last, I don't know, a year or two, I mean, you're right, I'm a history buff, I'm this, that, and the other. But I watch a lot of YouTube, the various documentaries that are accessible on YouTube.

It's an endless stream. of stuff. And some of it, not all of it, some of it, is pretty good. And I enjoy it. Roger Dietrich in London, Ontario. Do you think the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit series

would have been different if Bobby Orr had played? Absolutely. Bobby didn't play because he was recovering from knee surgery, which has been a constant for him for most of his life I remember sitting with Bobby

looking at his knee once it didn't even look like a knee there's so many scars on it from surgery if you're asking if a healthy Bobby Orr would have changed things the best answer is well my best answer is yes

I consider him the greatest hockey player of all time someone who could dominate a team game like no one ever had before. But all the other things about the series, well, they'd still be true. The series would be in September when the NHL players were not in top condition and the Russians would still have been vastly underrated going in. And the Canadians would not have had a proper game plan to deal with them. But they would have had Bobby Orr.

Bobby turned 78 last week. 78 Bobby Orr. still that kid from Parry Sound, Ontario. Bobby's a friend, as I've said before. We don't agree on some things. You can probably guess what those are. But he's a great friend and a terrific person on that level. Cindy Kilpatrick in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

You've known many politicians. Have you ever seen an individual change their stripes at more than a superficial level? I'm afraid that I'm not buying Pierre Poliyev's transformation and believe that he will do anything at all to be elected put on any mass deemed advantageous and then would be just as rogue as Danielle Smith if given a majority in Parliament. Well, Cindy, that's your view

and all I'd ask is you may be right but let's give it time. Let's see what happens. Let's see whether the people, Pierre Palilev we've seen in the last month is a new Pierre Poliyev. But he has actually changed some of his thinking about stuff. Not all of it, but some of it. Give it a time.

You may end up where you are already. Let's see. There's many politicians who change parties, and there are a lot of them, like the floor crossers in Canada and Ronald Reagan, who went from Democrat to Republican and Hillary Clinton, believe it or not, who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964, usually say they didn't leave their party, their party left them.

They didn't change at all. But in my lifetime, maybe someone who really did change was F.W. DeClerc, who was the president of South Africa, who, after arguing for it, was responsible along with Nelson Mandela for dismantling apartheid.

Lysandongli, Sutton, Quebec. If social media had been around in the days of past presidents, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, do you think we would have heard or seen equally disturbing late-night posts tweets like Trump's? And if so, which president would have surprised us the most? No, I don't think anybody, any of the names you mentioned, would have done what the current president does. There's never been a person let alone an American president who, quite frankly, is as vile and reprehensible as Donald Trump. He seems to many people to be shameless, corrupt, immoral.

No past president would have used social media as Trump does. I can imagine Roosevelt or Kennedy or Reagan, who were such good communicators using social media as a channel of directly getting to Americans. but even Richard Nixon carried himself with some dignity, which Trump seems unable to do. I get things like this every once in a while. Mitchell Ramsey in Burlington, Ontario, if my fiancé and I invited you to our wedding at the end of August, would you want to attend and celebrate with us?

There's always room for a Canadian grade at our table. Well, then you better get a real grade. No, I don't do weddings. but I wish you nothing but happiness and yours. And plus I think I'll be in Scotland at that point. Richard Swindell's in Mono, Ontario. We're almost ready for the random ranter. He's warming up in the bullpen.

He's warming up in the bridge bullpen. He's getting ready. But first, Richard Swindell's in Mono, Ontario. The bridge has covered many important issues in these turbulent times and knowing you recognize history's value, my question to you is this. Your listeners from all over Canada via the Thursday podcast have provided you with their thoughts and opinions on many subjects.

Will historians 30 to 50 years hence have access to those emails in a collated or searchable form? Were we right or were we wrong? Well, nothing seems to disappear today, so though I'm making no effort to collate any of these podcasts, they're out there somewhere and one day maybe a bright young PhD student will unearth all the your turns and deliver a brilliant thesis.

Yeah, nothing disappears anymore. It's always there. It's always kind of around. There's a number of places that you can get past copies of the bridge you've got to get a what do you call a subscription to it or a membership to there are a number of places

simple cast is the one I use and you can pull up every or any of the kind of 1,500 or so copies of the bridge audio files of the bridge

from that that little storage place. Okay, let's take our break. Let's hear from the Random Ranter, and then we'll get back to some more of your Ask Me Anythings. Well, we'll take our break, and then we'll come back with the Random Ranter. Right? Does that sound like a reasonable idea?

I think so. Back right after this. And welcome back. You're listening to The Bridge for this Thursday. I'm Peter Mansbridge. on Sirius XM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. As we always say, we'll be back to your letters, sorry. I was blanking there for a minute.

Be back to your letters in a second. But we've taken our break for our friend, The Random Ranter, who has, you know, as you know, the ranter lives on the Canadian prairies. He travels a lot. to a lot of people on the prairies because that's the kind of job he has in his real life. But once a week, he spends time coming up with a rant for us right here on the bridge. And we're lucky to have him.

This week, as we head into a weekend where the NDP will pick its new national leader, he has some thoughts from the prairies on the NDP. Here we go. There's a lot of talk about the relative success of the provincial New Democrats on the prairies versus the lackluster results of the federal party overall. Well, as a westerner, let me just say, the two parties may share a name, but that's about it. There's nothing apples to apples about them. First off, the provincial NDP tend not to be ideologues.

They're pragmatists set on actually governing. Gary Dewar, balanced the budget. Roy Romano, balanced the budget, as did Howard Pauley and Alan Blakeney before him. Wab Canoe isn't popular because of bike lanes or diversity initiatives. He's popular because he's a straight shooter who talks affordability, health care, and being tougher on crime. Look, there's no two ways about it. The Prairie NDP are different from the federal party. They're pro-worker, but they're not.

radicals. They're not anti-business. In fact, they're not so much a left-of-center party as they are a centrist party. And to understand that, you need to realize that for all intensive purposes, there are no liberal parties on the prairies. And that for all three prairie provinces, the de facto party of the center is really the NDP. Now, if you were out east, I imagine it would be hard for you to comprehend a world without a liberal party. But in the prairies, that's been the case for decades. Think I'm overstating it? Well, in the last election, the Manitoba liberals managed just 10% of the vote and won one whole seat.

In Alberta, the Liberal Party managed a paltry 0.24% of the popular vote. and in Saskatchewan, the liberal brand was so toxic, they changed their name to the progress party. But even then, they managed to make no progress at all and garner just 0.2% of the vote. What caused this? Well, the simplest way to explain it is that for my entire life anyways, the word liberal has been treated as a dirty word on the prairies. I don't know how far it goes back, but I have to think it's at least. since the first Trudeau. It doesn't mean there aren't liberals on the prairies. Federally, there are liberal seats across all three provinces. It just means that most liberals

support the NDP provincially, because the NDP on the prairies have the only chance at beating whatever conservative right of center party they face. To me, it's not so much of a statement on the NDP or even the liberals. To me, this is the result of the conservative movement shifting so much to the right over the last 10 years, especially on social issues. The idea of a MAGA-like or even a MAGA-like or even a MAGA-style conservative government has given rise to anything but conservative ABC voters. Federally, that means the liberals. Provincially on the prairies, that means the new Democrats. So while some people lament the decline of the federal NDP and the loss of a third voice at the federal level, I'd argue that the rise of a two-party federal system is really just an extension of

the two-party provincial systems that have evolved on the prairies over the last decades. The right has abandoned the center and the party in the middle, whatever that party may be, has been the beneficiary. But look, I'm being a little too kind to the federal NDP because they're not just victims of ABC voting dynamics. They've become largely irrelevant because they've failed to adapt to the times. I mean, they started as a party of farmers, then they became more of a union party, but now they're a heavily urban party.

They've traditionally been about workers' rights, fair pay and equity. Yet today more workers, even unionized workers, vote conservative. Simply put, the federal new Democrats don't present like a party capable of forming a government. They present like a party full of schemers and dreamers, ideologues and special interests.

And if you look at the five people running for the leadership, I think you could assign at least one of those descriptors to each of them. Is it fair to say the federal NDP is in need of a rebuild? Well, in my opinion, that's a massive understatement and a great big yes. They've grown out of touch with voters and they've lost their traditional base. And any talk about them being an option to form government? Well, that's a joke. Never to want to hide his feelings, the random ranter,

with a few words of wisdom about the NDP from his perspective. All right, thanks to the rander. Let's get on with a few more of your letters and your questions on an Ask Me Anything edition of your turn right here on the bridge. Callum Arnold in Guelph, Ontario. During a Canadian theater course, I read and watched Billy Bishop Goes to War by Eric Peterson and John McLaughlin Gray. I thoroughly enjoyed both Billy Bishop's story and the dramatic talents of Peterson and Gray. My question is, as an aviation aficionado and lover of Canadian, have you ever seen the play and or met those behind it?

Got the hiccups. Bad time for the hiccups when you're hosting a program. I saw the play years ago when I first came out, and I think that was the late 1970s, somewhere around there. And Eric Peterson, who's a friend, was fantastic. And I'm a Billy Bishop fan. When I can, I use the Billy Bishop Airport in downtown Toronto. I just bought at auction in Britain a book signed by Billy Bishop.

It's kind of a history of the First World War. But, you know, a great play. And I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to see it, that you do. Because it still plays on occasion in different parts of the country. Catherine Bird in the Nimo, BC, which of your careers gave you the most satisfaction at the moment, in journalism or out? In which job did you ever give yourself a shake and think, how has this happened to me?

Listen, when you're basically a high school dropout or didn't go to university, and it was working as a baggage handler in the northern Manitoba community of Churchill in 1968, and somebody just happened to hear my voice and offer me a job in radio, you've got to believe I pinched myself every once in a while and go, wow, how did this happen?

But, you know, I've had satisfaction in every job I've had. Working at the Island Park ESO in Ottawa as a gas jockey in the mid-1960s. That gave me satisfaction. Working at Trans Air, baggage handling. I loved that job. And obviously, I've been very lucky and I've loved all the jobs I've had in broad, including this one. So thank you for asking, Catherine.

That's my answer. Spencer Martin in Ottawa, among all those who aspired to be Canadian PM and never succeeded, who in your opinion would have been the best PM of that group? Well, I believe in the old line that Robert Stanfield was the best Prime Minister, Canada, never had.

He was a remarkable person. cared about the country, cared about his party, cared about Parliament, and stood for what he believed. You know, more current, you know, maybe Bob Ray. He was, you know, obviously he was a Premier of Ontario for the NDP, but he then became a liberal.

I think he was always a liberal. But he ran for the liberals, and he eventually became their interim leader. He was the last leader before Justin Trudeau. And I think we saw in him over his public service and life, which at times had controversy. There's no question about that. But at times had brilliance.

Like his post as ambassador from Canada to the UN. And he's been a guess more than a few times on the bridge as well. Brandon Roberts in Somerville, Alabama, that's near Huntsville. How would you define Patriots? and how do Canadians express it best? Well, let's start with a negative definition. I don't define it as my country right or wrong. I think being patriotic means you believe in the promise of your country,

that you buy into the proposition that your country will give you the opportunity, you know, to live a good life, defend your human rights and human dignity and even your physical safety, if necessary. And in return, you play a positive role in making your country work. You engage in civic life. And you do that by at least voting. Obey the laws of the land. Be helpful, be generous to others when you can

and be vigilant and helping to keep the promise of your country. Canadians, you know, certainly at least until the last little while, are famous for not being overtly patriotic. think that's fine. We can wave the flag on July 1st, and that's nice. But being a citizen, one of my favorite words, being a citizen every day is what counts to me as patriotism. Two people ask the same question, Martin Barron in Toronto and T. Peterson in Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan. That's about an hour east of Saskatoon. Their question was, did you know that Gord Downey was going to kiss you on the lips.

If you saw my interview with Gord, the final interview, before he passed away. Gord was into kissing everybody he met in those days. Now, we'd known each other for 20 years, more than 20 years. So it didn't come as a shock to me. that he was going to kiss me, or that we'd kiss each other, because that is what he had been doing.

With everyone he met in that final year of his life, knowing he was going to pass, he wanted to express love. And that's what he did. So yes, I knew that was almost certainly going to happen. And wasn't shy about it. Marge Andre in Richmond Hill, Ontario. How much preparation goes into the podcast?

Do you do research for each podcast and craft questions? Do you send these to the guests ahead of time? Do the guests, whether it's Chantel, Bruce, Althea, Rob, James, Gerald, and Janice get sent the questions? Do they suggest questions, topics? Do you do any editing to the podcast? You often say that you're running out of time.

What dictates the time limitations? Okay, let me try to answer as many of these as I can. Time is set by the primary source for the bridge, which is Sirius XM. They have a particular time slot that the bridge fits into, so therefore we have to fit that time. And the longest it can go is 52 minutes and 30 seconds. Now it changes on different days of the week,

but when you hear me say running out of time, that's why I'm saying running out of time. Editing? No, don't edit. Never edit. Well, I shouldn't say I never edit. there is a technical hiccup of some kind, then there will have to be an edit. And that happens occasionally, not very often.

How much planning goes into it? We kind of know what we're going to talk about. It's usually kind of obvious. You know, the current events of the time, especially political, we say, okay, we're going to touch on, you know, Pollyev Joe Rogan interview. But that's the extent of it. I don't share the questions

because I usually don't have anything written down as questions. Well, I never have questions written down. I might have some thoughts written down. I want to touch on this, touch on that. But questions are kind of, I'm sure you can tell what I'm asking them because I'm just stumbling around.

Anyway, that's the extent of the planning. And sometimes we don't say anything. Quite often on good talk, We won't say anything beforehand. We just start talking. Well, whatever I throw out there. And then one thing can lead to another, et cetera, et cetera. So that's as close as we get to, you know,

planning this stuff out. Just looking at what was, what else was in that question? Well, that's pretty well. That's how we do. But I guess the closest to nailed topics down are with the Moore Butts conversation. Because we usually do two topics in their 40 to 50 minute conversation with more butts. And we usually, we agree. I ask them their ideas for that week.

I give them my ideas. We usually settle on two. That's what we're going to talk about. and after that it's up to them to come up with whatever they want to say. Okay. We have room for a few more. Harold Gold in Calgary, of all the people you've met and or interviewed over your career,

who's the one person who left you in awe of their greatness? Similarly, who would you say was the most evil or despicable? You don't want much, do you, Harold? Look, I've been, I've interviewed a, over 20,000 people. 20,000. It never boils down to one person. I've been left in awe of lots of different people.

Some who I couldn't even tell you their names. You know, people who have been caught in particular situations who talk about it and recounted what exactly had happened to them. I don't think I've ever interviewed. a evil or despicable person. Oh, I should, I should adapt that. There was a Serbian leader during the 1990s during those wars in Serbia.

Rodko, forget his last name. I interviewed him, compared him to Hitler. In the interview, that didn't go so well. But overall, I've been lucky to the people I've talked to. Jennifer Humby and Goose Bay Labrador. Have you ever been to Labrador? And if not, you should make a trip here and maybe do a live taping of your podcast with Janice or the Good Talk folks or Raj and Russo. Good idea.

I have been once, and it was in the 60s, and it was just a stopover by plane. I didn't get to, you know, go into town. And, you know, so I think you're right. It would be a great idea. I'll see what I can do about that. Here are two letters on the same issue. As a respected journalist and broadcaster for many years, how would you have handled rude and disparaging remarks

that Trump throws at news reporters, especially women? That's from Gene Wanloss in Canada, Ontario. You know, it's a tricky situation, right? First of all, you don't have to accept it, and nor should you. And I think the most effective way I've seen reporters deal with Trump is to simply say, what did you say? Could you repeat that? And he, in his normal way, backs off

and races either to another question or reframe something. but when he calls reporters piggy, that insult, you know, you've got two choices. You can either punch him in the face, which you probably wouldn't get too far away, far with, or you can simply say, excuse me, what did you say? Jackie Goreley from Thorndale, Ontario, that's near London. She had a similar question.

Is there a journalistic protocol that does not allow a reporter to defend themselves from a bullying comment from the U.S. president? The CBC airs him live, and when he starts his pontificating lying off subject, they don't cut him off, giving him another bullying platform. I just don't understand it. You know, listen, I agree with you, Jackie. You know, I'm ashamed when the CBC runs him unedited, unverified at length, often at times longer than the American networks are covering. I don't get it. I don't understand it.

I think it's outrageous. However, this is a tricky question. Standing there while Trump tells you you're a terrible person cannot be easy. Trump changed the rules when it comes to relations with reporters, and in many ways reporters seem to have decided to play by the old rules. They seem to have decided that they are dealing not with Donald Trump, the person, but with the President of the United States, and that office deserves respect.

They also seem to have decided that they can do their jobs better if they just ignore the insults and continue to ask the questions that should be asked in pursuit of the news. news. The Trump White House has made a point of allowing right-wing journalists much greater access. These people shamelessly lobbed softball questions and guess what? Trump never insults them. So maybe it has become a badge of honor to have Trump call your names. It means you've actually doing your job. As for carrying Trump live when he starts wandering off topic and lying, it's another tricky one. And again, I think it's an example of the media playing by the old rules.

Cutting off the President of the United States wasn't done much in the past, and it certainly wasn't done because the President was lying. So someone making the call to cut him off has to think about that. Plus, there's always the chance real news might be made between the lies, and no journalist wants to miss that. I kind of half agree with that. I still think it's outrageous, especially when he's the leader of another country,

that a Canadian public broadcaster feels at times I don't do it all the time but there certainly have been examples where they just seem locked in. How are we doing on time? Okay, I've only got a couple of minutes left. David Kearns in Antiganish Nova Scotia.

As a kid, I grew up with Peter Zoski on the radio. I remember loving hearing him on Morningside Talk and question people respectfully. But you were his colleague, and I want to know what made him such a great journalist broadcaster, as you described him. Is it strange you're doing a program style that he may have perfected? Listen, that's very kind of you, David,

but believe me, I wouldn't compare myself to Peter Zoski. He was one of a kind, very special. Ask questions that you asked. Like, you know, he was just a guy, as I like to say about the ranter, really. Peter Zoski was a great guy. You know, he did a radio program before Morningside. It was called This Country in the Morning from 71 to 74.

And he did a program before that on Friday nights called Radio Free Friday, which became the forerunner of As It Happens. He was special. Very special. Okay, let's quickly end with Marilyn Wallace from Fannie Bay, British Columbia. Last year I spent a summer afternoon helping my granddaughter practice her handstands. The sun was glorious, the birds were chirping, and I was blissfully happy. But thoughts about increasing forest fires, droughts, and global warming.

Interrupted my joy and a wave of sadness washed over me. Does her future include the same experience with her grandchildren? Do you have these worries for your family? How do you remain hopeful for them? I think we all do, Marilyn. I think it's natural for every. every parent, every grandparent, to worry about their children and their grandchildren. Perhaps the best strategy for not letting the worry overwhelm you is to remember that every generation

has probably worried about the future. Our ancestors, for example, went through two world wars, and I'm guessing they were very pessimistic at times about what laid ahead for their descendants. I'd say our responsibility to try to leave the world as best we can, but no matter what we do, have confidence that the next generation will figure things out just as we did. Okay. Now, as I said, there were lots more letters, and we will hold on to those letters, and we will file them away as possibilities for next months.

Ask me anything, the final week of April. Man, we are creeping slowly towards spring. It's still cold. It's snow's all gone here. in Stratford, but it's still cold. Looking forward to those spring, sunny, warm days. They should be coming soon. All right, that's going to do it for today's program.

Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, of course, good talk. Bruce and Chantelle will be here. Who knows what we'll talk about. But you know we will talk about it. All right, I'm Peter Mansbridge. Again, thanks for listening. Talk to you again in 24 hours.

Thank you.