The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn -- From The Media to the Monarchy, And The Random Ranter Too.

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Lots of comments and opinions from all parts of the country today as you weigh in on the issues of the day.  Plus the Random Ranter, (with new music!), has his say too.  Enjoy.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday, that means your turn. It also means the random renter. Ah yes, we love Thursdays. We love Thursdays because I get a sense of what you're thinking from coast to coast to coast, and that's represented today. I think we've had more emails this week than ever in the past. I stopped counting them well up into triple digits. They won't all make the show today.

A lot of them will by taking excerpts from different letters that I get here. So the whole letter won't be read. I read the whole letter when they come in, but I just kind of pick out little parts of different letters so we can get as much reflection of the country as we can, at least in the country of which listens to the bridge. It would be wonderful if everyone listened to the bridge, but right now we've got a great audience, I'm not complaining, and it literally is from coast to coast to coast, as you'll hear on today's program.

And, of course, the random ranter. Lots of mail about the random ranter today. It's still running a high degree of satisfaction people most people love it but not everyone and we'll hear from them as well okay let's get right at it or i'll never get through all this uh again please remind yourself if you're writing tell me where you're writing from your name and your location all right much appreciated a lot of mail this week on the media on the various questions we've been asking about the media so let's let's start off on that rob mcpherson writes from Vancouver. I can't resist commenting on the issue of the credibility of legacy media.

Bruce Anderson suggested that the media needed to return to fact-based reporting rather than opinion reporting. Personally, I tremendously respect reporters who cover facts, check the facts, and report the facts. But I'm afraid that when a party or organization doesn't like the obvious conclusion that follows from the facts, their artificial intelligence robots attack any fact-based story with a flood of alternative facts, which tend to be mostly made up, and general unpleasantness, drowning out any fact-based reporting it seems to be too late to recover from this that is of course my opinion rob let's hope it's not too late and i think it's people like you who recognize what's going on who are going to help us turn the corner on this

on this issue um becky reynolds this issue. Becky Reynolds writes from New Market, Ontario. Very interested in your episode this week on the state of journalism today. I've felt that journalism always has been about the opinion of the journalist versus presenting the facts without opinion. Presenting only the facts would allow the reader to make their own opinions,

or do we think readers are incapable or too lazy to do that? Well, I would hope not, and I think bright, smart readers and listeners and viewers just want the facts laid out with accuracy and fairness, context, and allow them to be the decision makers about how they want to feel about the issue. And if that's done fairly and accurately, that's the way to do it. That's always the way that I was trained when I was in news. I have to remind people, this is not a newscast, this program. It's a program and a podcast that kind of floats opinion.

You know what you're getting here. This is not a newscast. But what I did for 50 years at the CBC and what still happens at the CBC and other locations is an attempt to present just the facts in the newscast. If that's not what you're getting, change the channel. Jeff Dubrow from... Where's Jeff writing from?

Moncton, New Brunswick. Great episode of SMT yesterday. That's the Wednesday, Smoke Mirror's Not Truth. My only surprise was that Stephen Harper's distrust and contempt for the media was never raised. Given that the two last conservative leaders were not openly hostile to the media, this may have been forgotten. In my view, Pierre Poliev's disruptive style may be from Trump's playbook. But the mistrust of the media is viewing them as part of the liberal establishment,

started under Harper. Having said that, Polyev was a student of Harper's, even doing his bidding as a junior minister in Harper's last term to undermine the Elections Act. Okay, Jeff, the only point I'd make on this is it didn't start with Harper. You know, media bashing as an art form in politics has been going on for as long as I can remember, by all parties, but especially by the Conservatives. They've never trusted the media, they've never trusted the CBC, And both have always been a target of past conservative

administrations, both in government and in opposition, especially so in opposition. They always assumed, as they do now, that the media is in the pocket of the liberals, which is always interesting because when the liberals are in opposition, they think the media is in the pocket of the conservatives. It's so foolhardy. The responsible media, whether it's legacy or new journalism, is in no one's pocket except yours, trying to determine the story so you can form your own opinions about it. I'm not naive. I know there are some journalists and some organizations

that are the opposite of that. But the media organizations you should trust, and you can determine that for yourself. Do it the right way. That's my opinion. James Jerome writes from Ottawa. I really enjoy your show. Good topics and good analysis by knowledgeable commentators.

I'm very partial to your points-themed shows and look forward to more great content. Excellent show with Andrew McDougall. That was earlier this week. Stephen Harper is former director of communications. I've never heard such a great analysis of media in politics hopefully a lot of people tune in and listen to this hope you have them on again andrew's great he's he's a friend and he's a great analyst he gets carried away as he did a little bit near the end of that, and gets into the partisan stuff. But the vast majority of that interview the other day was really interesting and thoughtful.

Malcolm Campbell writes, and I'm afraid I don't know where he was written from, I understand that in the spirit of fairness, you would argue for generalizations to be kept off the table. It is simply not possible. The New York Times is the most prestigious and trusted news agency in the world, arguably. Essentially, they are the biggest apple in the bunch and have shown their rot to the detriment of all corporate media, whether fairly or unfairly. It legitimizes Trump's assertions of fake news and the affiliation or, at the very least, favoritism towards the Democratic Party.

If the world standard cannot be trusted, then by default all outlets beneath suffer, legitimate or not. The audience is shifting to alternative media as a result. You know, Malcolm, we're going to have to agree to disagree on some of this. The New York Times is still a great paper. And one of the reasons you know that they've made mistakes is they admit their mistakes. And they're not every day.

And they're certainly not in every story. They do dozens and dozens and dozens of stories each day. And they're 100%. When they make a mistake, as they have made mistakes, they admit it up front. It's too bad politicians, including the one you named, can't do the same. What have we got here?

Carl Devuano in Toronto. What have we got here? Carl Devuano in Toronto. You said in your podcast that Pierre Poliev trotted out the line that the media is the enemy of the people. I looked at his email that he sent to party members and listened to the encounter with David Aiken and didn't hear him say that. Did I miss that line somewhere? Polyev said the media is biased and wants him to lose.

That's different than saying the media is the enemy of the people. Carl, you're quite right. You are correct. This is the response I sent him. Polyev never said directly that the media is the enemy, but he absolutely implied it by saying elements of the media, namely the Parliamentary Press Gallery, want his party to lose. He didn't say parts of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. He said the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

And that's a huge number, right? Based in Ottawa, I don't know what it is now. 50, 75, 100 or more. It also suggests, Polyev using that line, that the media is somehow the enemy of his party. And he has implied that many times. But as I said, you are correct, he did not use those exact words. Just like I never said that he said the media is the enemy of the people, which is very different than saying the enemy of the party.

But let's not play word games. Polyev is using media bashing, and he's hardly the first to do it, as we said most parties have, as both political and fundraising weapons. That doesn't make it right. Thanks, Carl. Daryl Murphy from Bedford, Nova Scotia. Although I don't agree with the way Pierre Palliev handles the media with his Trump style, I do think there is a definite media bias in Canada that has become more pronounced.

I often see interviews that are just based on talking points. Leaders like easy questions, and the interviewer wants to be asked back so they don't ask tough questions anymore. The national debate in the last federal election was very frustrating. The topics chosen favored left-leaning voters. Nothing on economics, monetary policy, for example. It was not a neutral playing field for debate. Some accuracy in those comments and criticisms of the media,

of that there is no doubt. I think it's unfair to say no interviewers challenge their subjects, politicians from different stripes. I don't think that's fair to say that. I'm not going to list which interviewers I like and which I don't like, but there are definitely interviewers out there who challenge the people they have guesting on their program. And there are those who don't challenge. That's not good. That's not good for anybody. It's not good for the politician, it's not good for the journalist, and that's not good that's not good for anybody it's not good for the politician it's not good for the journalist and it's not good for democracy um mark zeus um

sorry mark if i'm pronouncing that wrong he's from rodney ontario the news used to be a statement of facts the who who, what, when, and where. It wasn't sugar-coated, nor was it filled with opinions. The listener was left to form their own opinion or listen to different programs to get that information if they wanted. Now, many news broadcasts are infotainment shows that are filled with a lot of frill and opinions. If the viewer hears opinions on political issues that are contrary to their own, they tune out and speak about how biased the news is, painting many news outlets the same way. People do not trust what they hear on the evening news, and they certainly don't trust politicians in general. You're making some good points there, Mark. Rick Scott, Sault Ste. Marie. you're making some good points there mark rick scott sue st barry the current atmosphere where

hard-working journalists and their credibility are under attack beggars belief some people in the audience seem to have taken leave of objective reality and these folks are probably unreachable however it seems many just don't know that journalism is a craft that has standards for reporting, standards which, elevated above mere gossip or rumor-mongering. And while there's a valid debate to be had over how well different journalists or media outlets adhere to those standards, it's impossible to have that discussion in an environment where journalists are condemned and derided as fake news simply for reporting blatant obvious facts that too is true rick and thank you for writing mary reinhardt help me understand how the polyev war on media is a benefit to his campaign for Prime Minister.

Does he believe social media platforms can supplement the reach he will need to get to mainstream conservatives and or right-leaning liberals? Well, so far he certainly does believe that. Is it a belief that it's going to pay off in the long run? Well, I don't think we know, but I would suggest this, Mary, that you listen to the Monday podcast earlier this week when Andrew McDougall was on the air, because that's the very question we got to. Zavi Kuchar from Montreal.

Regarding your Andrew McDougall interview and your questions on how the media operates in the new environment, thank you for the attention to an idea that concerns me. I think a fair oversimplification of his comment is continue doing good work and avoid non-essential issues. I accept the answer, but Peter, there must be more, at least I hope so. Bashing the media is not a new phenomenon, agreed. Does history have any lessons on how to deal with this challenge?

Do any of your ex-colleagues have anything to add? Are there any academics who could shed light on a strategy, or is Canadian academia in general not dealing with this question? Oh, I think they're professors in different journalism courses, some of whom were journalists before, some of whom were journalists before and weren't that good, actually, who have opinions on these things. But listen, journalists are aware of this debate and know that in the long run, and I think this is what Andrew was getting at, in the long run, they will be challenged, they will be known for the quality of their journalism.

And if the quality is good and fair and accurate and contextual, then they're going to win this battle. So there is a certain amount of truth of head down, do your work, do it fairly and accurately, and you'll win this argument. We had a couple of discussions in the past few days about linear versus digital in terms of the future of television made a number of comments one of them was about how amazon which is a streaming service has now gone into the coverage of pro football which is not good for linear television which was making it and continues to make money off of live sports.

And Rick Morrow from Spruce Grove, Alberta, wants us to realize that, interestingly, Amazon outbid Fox for the Thursday night football rights. Last year, Fox paid approximately $600 million. But Amazon paid $1 billion for this year's rights to broadcast 17 games. There must be a lot of revenue from extra subscriptions, I guess. Bell still has the rights in Canada. A billion dollars for 17 games. That's pretty good.

You can see where the dollars are. And here's one more comment on this issue of linear versus digital. Then we're going to switch topics. This comes from Robert Welch, and he's in Vermont, just south of the border in a town called St. Johnsbury. It's about 45 minutes south of the border with Quebec. The only reason why I pay money for TV is because I'm too far away from the transmitter antennas

on Mount Royal for Montreal TV and Mount Mansfield, where the Burlington, Vermont TV stations are. But here's a quiet trend I'm noticing connected with cord cutting, people getting away from cable. People are realizing some channels don't need a cord if they live in the right place.

I know a man who has transitioned his business from installing small satellite dishes to installing rooftop TV antennas. He's advertising word of mouth as a generation of young people tells family and friends that their reception is outstanding and that over-the-air TV didn't go away, it just converted from analog to digital. Yes, people are doing the Amazon and the Apple TV thing, but lots of people also feel a need to be in touch with local news and weather and anything that must be live, like sports. Interesting. The return of the rabbit ears.

Okay, some comments on... Still, I've got a ton of letters here to go, so... I'll try not to get sidetracked. We got a lot of mail about the Queen, and the coverage of the Queen. And those ten days that led to her funeral service just a couple of days ago on Monday. Derek Bolan writes from Nanaimo, in regard to your comment on the funeral of the Queen and how different broadcasters presented and showed the pool television feeds. CTV ran a small decal in the lower third, left, and their logo in the opposite corner. BBC ran a full screen, no logo, nothing but the video.

In addition, there was no commentary at all during the service of the Abbey. Now, the CBC ran a continuous lower third banner along with the time and logo, but worse, they also had a news ticker running. I guess this is on News Network as opposed to the main CBC. Although, I'm not sure. I mean, that news ticker seems to be just a News Network thing. ZeroClass was very disappointed that our public broadcaster could not just show us the video. I'm not sure what it is with broadcasters these days with the lower third time and time again they show a clip with names and information

that are covered up by this lower third. Would this be due to cutbacks in control rooms and they have nobody there to remove the tickers when needed? Needless to say, I watched the BBC coverage and agree David Dimbleby is a class act. I grew up in the UK listening to the Dimbleby brothers in my hometown of Liverpool. Your mothers as well. Yes, I did read off the record. Such a great city.

Yes, Liverpool is a great city. And David Dimbleby was my hero in broadcasting. Of all the broadcasters I witnessed and met around the world, he was the class. Nothing but class. And he showed it again. I'm not sure how old he is. I should have looked it up,

but I guess he's either in his late 70s or early 80s now. And the BBC brought him back to do part of the coverage on Monday, the part in Windsor Castle. And he was, as he always is, fantastic. Dawn Katzak from Michalabit in Nunavut. I was deeply shocked, saddened, when the news came of Her Majesty's passing. She lived a full life, and most of us saw only a little of it.

She lived through hard times, through the great wars, and ever-changing country. Her passing reminded me of both my grandmothers, as they also went through great ordeals, though not the same, but just as great. It is my opinion, because some may disagree, the monarchy uphold the law in which we all must acknowledge. They are also making an impact on climate change. They could help make laws in endangering environment and climate and pollution. That is my hope. Thank you, Don.

Always good to hear from you. Wade Hall in Toronto. As a stretch hypothetical, if the UK became a republic, how would that impact the process of disentangling Canada from the monarchy? That's a big if, Wade. I would assume that if the UK somehow became a republic, we wouldn't have to worry too much about the monarchy. But I certainly don't see that happening in my lifetime

um stephen mcgoggy from trenton ontario i've been curious about what will happen to the thousands of the paintings and portraits of the queen in all of government and public institutions that's a really good question i don't know the answer to it i saw saw the other day that Katie Telford, who is the number one official inside the prime minister's office, shared a picture with us of one of the portraits they have in the PMO of the queen. And I immediately thought of this letter from Stephen in Trenton. What's going to happen to that? Somebody going to take it home?

Does it go to the archives? What happens? Because there are tens of thousands of portraits, government-paid-for portraits of the Queen around this country. Where are they all going to go? Laura Ormesher from Toronto. I'm proud to say I'm a monarchist. My father's family originated in Liverpool.

Another one. I'm disappointed that Ontario did not recognize the Queen by implementing a national holiday like some of our other provinces. Shame on Ontario. I've been impressed with King Charles since his beloved mother passed away. Yes, the leaking pen incident was a little dramatic, I'll say, but grieving in public while ascending to the crown must be incredibly difficult. God saved the king. And here's the last letter on the monarchy, and I'm a big fan of David Oliver. He's one of our regulars.

He writes from Oak Bay, British Columbia. He's probably written more letters to the bridge than anyone over the last couple of years, and not all of them, but many of them have been read on the Thursday. Your turn. Here's his note, and it's our final note on the Queen. As well as the funeral proceedings in Britain, there were memorial services held in every province in Canada, including here at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. It's not

Westminster Abbey, but it is a large Gothic stone church with stained glass, a splendid organ and choir, and ten beautiful bells similar to those in the Abbey. I had the task of tolling the tenor bell 96 times at one-minute intervals before the service and participating in ringing all ten bells after the service. Nice to be part of an historic occasion. Good for you, David. You can almost hear those bells ringing. All right. One of the new things that we've been doing this season is we added to the Thursday broadcast, the random renter. As he likes to describe himself he's just a guy he's just a guy he lives in western canada but that doesn't mean he's offering a western canada point of view he's offering his view

he's not a partisan he doesn't belong to any party he's never worked for any of the parties. He's just a guy. And each week he gives us a couple of minute rant. And we call him the random ranter. Christine McDonald writes, I like the random ranter segment, but I do not like the music. Please reconsider. After two weeks, just cannot get into it. Okay. Luke Czarnecki.

Not sure where Luke writes from. It's his first letter, he says, to the bridge. I would like to express my support for the new Random Ranter segment. Having just finished listening to the last episode of the bridge, it appears that I am not the only fan. I was particularly pleased that you provided a platform to someone from Western Canada. Western alienation may seem cliché to some, particularly Eastern audiences, but it is a commonplace and understandable sentiment among us Westerners who are, for the most part, limited to consuming media that is produced in or otherwise partial to issues and points of view from Ontario and Quebec. I understand that. I spent 10 years at the beginning of my career

in Western Canada. Again, let me remind you, the random ranter is just a guy happens to live in western canada he's not trying to be the western canada voice he's just he's just a guy um but not everybody accepts that uh gabrielle robichaux who's an acadian from monkton living in montreal having an enormous conservative blowhard on your platform weekly is kind of gross. I personally could do without it. This made me stop your podcast for the first time since day one. When people complain about the media working for clicks, this is exactly the kind of shenanigans they speak of.

Accountability is important. Who is this jerk? Why is he anonymous? I think he just answered your question in the last two sentences you used. But let me just say once again, everybody's entitled to their opinion, including Gabriel. He obviously doesn't like the random ranter. But the ranter is not a conservative, nor is he a liberal, nor is he an NDP or a People's Party or whatever. He's just a guy who works in different parts of Western Canada,

and he has views on a number of different subjects, and if you actually listen to them all, you'll see that he's not aligned to one party or another. Moving on. Jeff Sargent. I'm an avid fan of the bridge. Don't miss many of the episodes. I'm catching up on some from last week and just listened to the random ranter from Thursday. I have to say, it was not pleasant to listen to.

While it comes across as a typical Alberta perspective, perhaps, it does not represent all of that province, and it most certainly does not represent the views here in my home province of British Columbia. You're assuming the random ranter is from Alberta we never said that he never said that he just happens to live in the west and he's not trying to pretend to be representative of anybody else just himself. Michael Wan from downtown Toronto.

The Random Rantor is a great addition to the show, although I agree with others about the music. It sounds like the introduction to a Nintendo game from 1983. The Rantor makes good and entertaining points about the mandate freedom crowd, and many of us are frustrated at their tactics. Having said that, I think it's valuable to try to see their perspective.

I'd like to think that many, hopefully most, of the protesters think that they are protecting the rights and values of Canadians, and they wave the flag with pride and patriotism. By the way, any chance you can bring back Jerry Butts and James Moore again? Funny you mention that, Mike. Just talking with both this week, and we're planning a new episode probably in the next two weeks. So look forward to that.

Obviously, I'll let you know. Code Clements from Cherry Grove, Coal Lake, Alberta. The Random Ranter. Wow, that Random Ranter read my mind on every item he mentioned so far. Freedom. I feel free always. In my 76 years, I've never in Canada felt my freedom restricted. I've traveled from coast to coast to coast over five months,

lived in Manitoba, Alberta, and B.C. I asked fellow seniors, have you ever felt unfree? Every answer, no. Steve Loden or Loudon? First let me say that the random ranter put into words exactly what I've been thinking

when I see vehicles flying the Canadian flag. By the way, Steve is from Rattlesnake Harbour, Norfolk County, Ontario. My main reason for writing is to observe that I have not been able to locate any source that tells us where Pierre Polyev ranked on the CPC leadership ballots, where he did not rank first. That would give Canadians a much better sense of whether he is likely to gain the support of the remaining members, or whether there was a significant anybody but Polyev sentiment.

Well, it obviously wasn't significant. Guy won almost 70% of the votes. I'm sure there's some areas that didn't vote for him, but clearly most did. Wanda Soder from, appears to be Saskatoon. My partner and I, 67 and 59 respectively, totally agree with the random ranter. It made my day to know that a younger person than myself has these feelings and is willing to share them with the public. I could go on, but I'm choosing to let this hopefulness

fill my day today. Have a great weekend. Glad you and your crew of people are back. Spencer Stinson from Blenheim, Ontario. I really enjoy the random ranter. I think because I can hear myself having the same rants as my wife graciously acts as my soundboard. The unfortunate part is that I share the random ranter's dismay. I cringe at the sight of a Canadian flag now, and in the current climate would never think of flying one on my property due to the unfortunate negative connotations associated with it.

I don't know where we go from here, or how the general public is to reclaim the flag for what it is meant to stand for. There is a lot of truth to random ranters, to the rant about how these people feel and probably did feel prior to the pandemic. And I'm not sure any politician is listening to any of them, even if they blindly think Mr. Polyev might be. I guess we'll see on that, right? And here's the... What do we got here? Oh, no.

You know what we're going to do here? We're getting ready to take a quick break. But wouldn't this be the perfect place for this week's random rant there's more letters to come i will get to them but uh let's hear what the random ranter is randomly ranting about this week you'll be happy to know new music here we go have you ever had one of those friends that loves to ask you for advice when they're really just looking for someone to validate what they're already thinking? It's so frustrating. They go around shopping for opinions until inevitably someone tells them what they want to hear.

I think that's how a lot of people consume news. We're losing if we haven't already lost our shared set of facts. And it seems like no matter what you want to believe, you can find support for it on the internet. So it must be true. These days, the only thing everyone agrees upon is that the queen is dead. But even that seemed to take two weeks of constant coverage to somehow drive home. We don't handle inconvenient truths very well, and it's only getting worse. Take the pandemic. The biggest lesson I took away from COVID is the absolute willingness of some people to believe what they want to believe, no matter what the facts show, or the experts say, or sadly,

even when they've lost friends or family to the illness. When presented with hard truths, a lot of people just choose to not accept them, and then find something to dispute them with. Social media is great for that. But don't misunderstand me. There's nothing wrong with having opinions. We're entitled to them. The problem is when those opinions become so far disconnected from reality that they can start to do real damage in the real world. How do you reason with someone who complains about the government being so incompetent and in their next breath accuses them of being so brilliant that they could pull off a worldwide reset conspiracy? Suddenly you have pro-lifers crying, my body, my choice, and they do it with a straight face. The hypocrisy of their BS arguments doesn't

seem to even register with them. It's so hard to take. Look, I'm not a journalist, but I consume a lot of it. And if I'm being honest, I for sure consume it with bias. I mean, if Trump had somehow cured cancer, I'd have scoured the internet night and day for any way not to credit him for it. But that said, my bias has its bounds, and I'm at least self-aware of it. I don't know what or if there's a solution for it. But that said, my bias has its bounds, and I'm at least self-aware of it. I don't know what or if there's a solution for this, but somewhere along the line, we've started confusing opinion with fact. Sure, we can blame the internet, or we can blame the media, but clearly there's a huge market demand for self-soothing opinions, and this really shouldn't come as news to anyone.

Because at the end of the day, it's just my opinion. Well, there you go. The Random Ranter for this Thursday. And new music. I know. There's just going to be a flood of letters from all those people who didn't like the old music. And they're going to say, that's such great music. Well, we'll see. see okay more letters to come but first this quick break

and welcome back you're listening to The Bridge, the Your Turn Thursday edition, along with the random renter, right here on SiriusXM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. I'm Peter Mansbridge in Toronto on this day. Tomorrow, don't forget, Good Talks, Jean-Tilly Baer, Bruce Anderson will be here. Lots to discuss, as always.

Okay, let's get back to the letters. Because we do have a few left. And we're going to start on a topic that has perhaps been the topic more than any other since this podcast started. COVID. COVID isn't going anywhere, writes Derek Andrews from Fredericton, New Brunswick. We know this. It will continue to rear its ugly head and cause sickness in people that did not exist four years ago. This is a sad truth.

We will need to live with it. But we also know how to handle it on a personal health level better now than we ever have in the past three years. So at some point, for the benefit of the collective psyche of this country, to allow for closure, healing, and reflection, we have to take the step forward in declaring the pandemic behind us, much like Joe Biden did for the United States this past week on 60 Minutes. There was no denying in his message that COVID wouldn't be a factor in their lives moving forward, but he was also willing to signal to his fellow Americans that the pandemic itself has come to an end. So I think you see my point of this in this paragraph above, but I'm interested to hear yours. I heard what Joe Biden said. I also heard what Tony Fauci and others in the medical profession said,

that they thought he'd gone too far. COVID isn't over. Is the pandemic over? I don't know. I don't think so. There are still many people dying. What was it? More than 400 died in the United States each day this week.

20 or 30 die in Canada each day. Pandemic's not over for them. Sandy Mickelson from Langley, BC. In my effort to make opinions from a variety of sources looking for multiple points of view on various subjects in Canada, I started following your podcast. I've learned a lot in my pursuit of an open mind. I hope you won't mind me telling you that I will be posting a hashtag Trudeau must go post and I am not a bot. Of course I don't mind you telling me that. It's a free country. It's already a free country. But we did talk about this hashtag true to Moscow thing yesterday

on Smoke Marys No Truth with Bruce Anderson. There's no question a large part of this is organized. It's an organized bought campaign. But there are also people, clearly like Sandy, who are taking part in this on their own accord. And as Sandy admits, this is a campaign. This is a campaign. But I wouldn't say it's a campaign based on vaccine opposition.

It's more from the frustration that everyday Canadians are feeling from a prime minister that is dividing our society. I'm not anti-vax. I have the first two. I won't get any more, despite the fact it prevents me from visiting my in-laws in Europe. The point is choice. Taking the vaccine should be a matter discussed between an individual and their doctor. Okay, well, let's hear from the doctor, because the next letter comes from Dr. Jane Rusnak from St. Catharines, Ontario. Here's an excerpt from her letter. Sadly, people are admitted to hospital every day because of COVID and people are still dying. Yes, most have mild or moderate illness because of immunization.

Because the majority of us immunized and boosted, we helped protect the minority who chose not to. But immunity wanes. Immunity derived from infection doesn't last as long. So yes, people need to have a minimum of three vaccines, and they should be boosted as soon as they're eligible. That may currently mean four or five doses, depending on when you had your last dose and when you last had COVID. Vaccination doesn't prevent one from getting COVID, but mask wearing does. Wearing it properly, that is. Vaccination lessens the severity of the illness such that people won't be as sick for as long, and thus also lessens how infectious they are to those around them. The more we can limit COVID-19 infections,

hopefully we can prevent the virus from mutating into a variant that is worse than the ones we've had. We've heard from Dr. Jane before. Good to hear from her again. John Tomisky. Wow, just wow. Wednesday's podcast was quite the dividing show, bashing Trump because the American media tells you to is so wrong.

Nobody tells us to do that. You know, we just look at the facts. Nothing has been proven about this so-called raid. Look at the two impeachments against him. Nothing found, but the media made a story out of nothing and continue to bash him. Then your partner saying how Pierre Polyev never answered two questions, but he said Trudeau answered 11.

Trudeau has never answered any questions. I'll tend to agree with you generally on that. He doesn't answer the questions he's asked. He gives you an answer, but it's not an answer to the question you asked. That Aiken fellow was quite rude interrupting Polyev, so Polyev gets bashed for being Polyev. So did Aiken. Wow, talk about division among Canadians. Excuse me. Anyway, that's John's view. Katie Weir. I'm trying to understand more about what others are thinking, especially now that Pauliev won the Conservative leadership. I know many felt their freedoms were curtailed too strongly and for too long last year.

I can understand a small bit of that hearing, that friends were worried about the mental health of others who suffered in lockdown. But I've been unable to hear how the vulnerable would have been protected without the mandates. When I hear Polyev promising no more mandates, I again wonder what the plan is to protect those with various health issues who are more vulnerable in a pandemic. These are smart people. They must have a plan. Why am I not hearing it?

Katie Weir writes from Nelson, B.C. Okay, I've kind of got a grab bag of letters to go here, so I better get through them all quickly. Your chat with Brian Stewart was interesting as usual. It's not an international war correspondent. I'm not one. But the obvious question I was hoping to hear is, is a complete Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine an option?

I'm sure Putin has a big ego, so maybe that's not the issue. Neil Rankin from Prince Edward County, Ontario. Man, I can't see that happening as long as Putin is still in power. If he wasn't in power, that might be a possibility, but I'm not sure. He's still got a lot of support in russia uh tom levec writes from halifax with respect to today's show my question to brian stewart would be what would it take to remove russia from the un security council that's a really good question and it did come up a couple of times yesterday at the un um trudeau was asked about it last night at a media availability,

and he ducked the question. I mean, Russia was one of the founding members and is part of the five-member permanent security council. I don't know what the process is or if there even is a process to get rid of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. I suspect that there isn't one and it would probably need a unanimous vote to agree to one. So you can see where that's going. Michael Demings writes, and I think Michael is in New Brunswick. I don't know, maybe he's in Ontario.

While returning from New Brunswick last week, we were tuned to the podcast about the bugs and the lack of them. Well, I can tell you that at our first fill-up, I strolled into the gas station and asked the attendant if they had a razor blade that I could purchase, as this was the only way that I could clean the windshield, Edmonston. While I purchased the razor blade, thankfully I used it again on fill-up number two in Drummondville and number three in Cornwall. I can attest the bugs are plenty. I guess it depends where you are. This comes out of a discussion with a letter writer a couple of weeks ago about fewer bugs this year and what that said about uh about the things we spray in the air um robert bjarnason writes

a quick note of affirmation and opinion we had three glorious years of low mosquitoes which officially came to an end this summer. Along with a bumper crop of squitters and miller moths, we had a plethora of our regular black flies, horse flies, deer flies, sand flies, gnats, flying ants, wasps of every shape and color, plus lots of bees. Robert, remind me not to accept that invitation to come to your cottage. Thankfully, we had few ticks this year. Last year was quite tick-busy. The miller moth population ebbs and flows greatly, as do other insect populations.

We remember a record miller moth invasion in 1986 when we built our house in rural Manitoba. I agree we need to be careful in eliminating what many people see as pests, but as it appears that our insect population here is pretty healthy. I draw the line of mosquitoes, ticks, and flies with a live and let live, catch and release philosophy. These incredibly fascinating and misunderstood creatures are an important part of our natural world. Alex Cianfloni from Ottawa, no, from St. Catherine's. No, he's from St. Catherine's. He now lives in Ottawa. I was wondering if you could further elaborate regarding the rumors of Chrystia Freeland and NATO and whether or not such comments have credibility or not.

I don't know the answer to the question. I do know that when major international positions as Secretary General of NATO is about to come up, I think the current incumbent has been extended a year, that names are floated from around the world. And it's not surprising that Canadian names are floated quite often. It's rare that they get them, get the positions, but they are floated. And apparently, Chrystia Freeland's name is being floated for this. I don't know.

I don't know whether it's true. I don't know whether if it is true, she'd be interested. And I don't know if it is true, whether she would have a good shot at getting it. So in other words, I know nothing. Here's our last letter for this week. And it comes from Anne Brown. And I'm just looking to see whether Anne tells us where she's writing from. She doesn't. But it's a great little letter. And it's a nice one to end on.

It's going to end with a smile. It's a good thing. Anne Brown writes, I love listening to your podcast while going for a walk, getting out of my work from home office. The other day I found you were talking unbelievably fast, and so was your guest. I just couldn't process what was being said. I thought, am I having a stroke or something? Later I googled why people would be talking so fast on a podcast and found there is a setting that speeds things up to one and a half times. Unfortunately, at age 61, my brain does not do the same. So you are now back to regular speed and I can slow my walk down.

I didn't know that either when I started this. And I had friends of mine who've always consistently used to tell me, this is the national, you've got to speed up your delivery. You've got to go faster. And I've always said, no, no, no. I don't like fast talkers. It is what it is. This is the way I talk talk and this is the way i'm going to keep talking and they said well there's a trick on podcasts we can speed you up and listen to you you know you can go one and a quarter times one

and a half times two times and you know you sound like like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Whatever. Thanks, Anne, for that letter. And thank you for listening on this day. It's always a treat on Thursdays. I love hearing from you, the good, the bad, the ugly, whatever. And the music selections. I hope you're happy now.

New music for the ranter. And I hope the majority of you continue to be happy with the ranter. I think it's a fun little addition to, uh, to the program tomorrow. As I mentioned earlier, it's good talk. The Friday edition, Chantelle,

a bear in Montreal, Bruce Anderson in Ottawa. I'm not sure where I'm going to be tomorrow, whether I'll be in Stratford or here in Toronto, but I'll be in one or the other. And we will discuss whatever we discuss. You know, sometimes on Thursdays, I send them a note and I say, gee, I can't think of anything we're going to talk about,

and we have an hour to fill. And sure enough, by the time it gets there, we've got lots to talk about, as I'm sure we will tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks for writing. I really appreciate that. Always love to hear from you at themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. So that's it for now. Thanks so much for listening. And of course, we'll be back with good talk in 24 hours.