The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn - Guns, Airports, Leadership and More

Episode Date: June 9, 2022

Our weekly collection of your thoughts about some of the pressing issues of the day.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday. It's your turn. Your thoughts, comments, ideas, coming right up. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge in Stratford, Ontario. Thursdays are always your opportunity to weigh in on whatever you think about the topics that we've been discussing here on the bridge. And today is no exception. Lots of letters coming in through the email system this week. So let's get right at it. Let's not waste a second.

Monday of this week was the Moore-Butts conversation number three, and it dealt with leadership, how we pick our leaders for the various political parties and whether or not the process leads to the best possible leaders. And it was a great conversation. If you've not listened to one of these Moore-Butts conversations, that's James Moore, the former cabinet minister in the Harper government, and Jerry Butts, the former principal secretary to Justin Trudeau.

These two fellows have a fair degree of admiration for each other and they're able to sit and chat in a non-partisan way about some of the issues that confront us. And they have been very popular through these three conversations. Popular enough that this summer, when I take the bridge into hiatus for a while, which starts, I think our last program is June 24th, and then we're taking most of July and August off, we will be on with encore episodes once a week. And there will also be a number of good talks that are done live during the

summer as well as Chantel and Bruce will have their say on whatever topics we think are worthy. But one of the weeks in terms of the encore editions, I'm thinking of putting together all the Moore-Butts conversations and having them as a chunk of one week during the summer. So you can look forward to that. All right. I promised letters, and here I am rambling.

So let's get some letters. First off on the Moore Butts conversation this week on leadership. Code Clemens writes from Cherry Grove, Alberta. If you're wondering where that is, it's near Coal Lake. Moore Butts, first one I've listened to. Excellent. Restored my faith in our political system. From James Moore sitting in Parliament and watching John Manley field questions in both languages and give professional answers. Not what he said, but

perhaps what he meant. And realized Day would not be a good prime minister. Capacity and ability to lead. From Jerry Butts, 90% of politicians he met, from all sides, are good people. And we're in it for the right reasons. Politicians are people. As someone a couple of years older than you, born and raised in Stanley Knowles, Winnipeg North Centre,

I've always felt politicians were honest and there for the right reasons. You know, I remember when I was cutting my teeth on politics in the 1970s, I can remember following Stanley Knowles in Winnipeg North Centre. He used to go during a campaign. He'd always be at the, I think it was the CP rail yards in his riding. And he would meet the fellas going in and out of those yards, shake their hand, give them pamphlets. And Stanley Knowles never forgot that I was there covering him those days

and for years later, decades actually later, when we would see each other in Ottawa, he'd always come up to me and say, do you remember those days when you used to come watch me at the rail yards? And I certainly did. And Carolyn Black writes from waterloo lots to think about in today's conversation with moore and butts thank you as always for this i love moore's story about looking at stockwell day and john manley i think similar decisions happen with non-politicians as well my daughter who just finished her undergrad degree, turned down a permanent job offer where she has been working part-time for the last three years

because the leadership didn't give her hope of it being a place where she could grow, progress, and be happy. Progress and be happy. She's seen other employers that offer that. I'm at the other end of my career and late last year made a similar decision about where I would work on the basis of the leadership, not on the basis of the prestige of the company, name or salary. In the current very tight job market, employers need to be aware that leadership, tone from the top, and the work environment matter for both attracting and retaining quality talent.

Doug Bailey from Edmonton writes, Once again, you know, really enjoying the more buts conversations. They both have strong arguments, but I think we need to recognize the problems with the current system for a party in power and with caucus elections for parties in opposition. To answer the episode's title question, no, I don't think we're electing leaders the right way. Reducing the accountability of leaders to their caucus members has not made the system more democratic. I'm not sure it's quite that cut and dry, but I hear what you're saying. Taking power away from the representatives we all elect and giving it to an amorphous and relatively small group of party members has reduced our own power as voters.

I guess you're talking about the way they tossed out the past leader. But I recognize that the problems with a relatively small opposition caucus choosing a party's leader for the next election are real. Moore and Butts both pointed out the problems with that system. I don't know what the answer is, and I'm not suggesting parties adopt different systems for when they're governing or in opposition, but I think reform, the Reform Act is a start. And I think we need to put more emphasis on how we can effectively hold leaders accountable and less on the mythical opening up of leadership elections

to anyone willing to buy a party membership. There were a lot of comments this week about the voter turnout in Ontario last week, down around 42-43%. We discussed this on Smoke Mirrors and the Truth yesterday with Bruce Anderson. It's another very good episode. Listen to it if you haven't already. Adam Dufour from Ottawa writes, I was flying back home from work through your old stomping grounds

at the churchill airport last week and i thought i should write you again like you that's where i worked back in the 60s in churchill like you i am dismayed by the poor turnout for the ontario election last week in conversation with my friends i am what they call a Gen Z for what it's worth, I found only one other who bothered to vote. I think that one other factor dissuading potential voters that you fail to touch on in your conversation with Bruce is the first-past-the-post voting system. For example, my home writing has been held by the same party since seemingly the dawn of time. I knew that my vote would be worth just as much if it hadn't cast it, if I hadn't cast it, but did so anyway as a matter

of principle. Until all votes actually go towards some form of representation in the legislature, I don't think the populace will get any more eager to participate. Gabriella Zilmer from Toronto. I feel like the younger urban demographic opted out of voting. It sounds like you just listened to the last letter. I don't feel they saw themselves in any leader and are fed up with politics and politicians. I think the car driving older crowd voted and they leaned a bit right, off the hard right.

Of course, there were other things that led to the overwhelming majority Ford got, including how he ran his campaign, but I do believe the low voter turnout played an important role. If this is a nationwide issue, I think we have a problem. We have the Ukraine fighting for democracy, and in our own country, we have 57% of the people not voting. What gives? John Minigan writes,

Listening to data on how you reported, there was only 41, 42, 43% turnout for the Premier's election. For somebody who always votes, I didn't bother because there was no one worth voting for. Doug Ford did not deserve to be re-elected for the poor management of Ontario during COVID. Doug Ford's overstepping and scaring the public into locking their front doors and staying inside for almost two years was completely unacceptable. Well, that sounds like reason enough to go vote if you felt strongly about that. But clearly, John didn't find anything to be impressed with with the

other opposition leaders either. Tomek Kaniat in Scarborough, Ontario. Here are my reasons why I think the turnout was low. Great portion of political advertising is telling us why we shouldn't vote for the other guy. Lack of campaigning by local candidates. I remember times when local candidates from all three major parties came to my door to shake my hand, talk, and at least make the impression that they wanted to listen.

Nothing like this happened in the last campaign. I understand that COVID-19 affected this last campaign, but I didn't get any response from my local candidate when I emailed her about damaged signs in our neighborhood. It's hard to resist an impression that spontaneous and direct contact with electors is actively discouraged by the parties. However, I did vote, after all. Ian Hebblethwaite,

there are a couple of people with ideas on what to do about this. Ian Hebblethwaite from Moncton. Could it work if tax receipts were given out if you voted? Here's my ballot, here's your whatever tax credit receipt to file next year.

I don't think so. First of all, that's an encouragement only to people who are in a tax bracket that would make a difference. And it has this kind of distasteful feeling like you're kind of paying people to vote. And it's just more paperwork and more bureaucracy i'm not sure like that idea christine mcdonald ford may have got the majority of 43 but the real winner was apathy and laziness once every four or five years is too much?

Mail-in, early voting, and in-person participation is available. I'm disgusted with the fact that less than 20% of the largest province got to dictate what my life was going to look like for the next few years. My preferred candidate did not check all my boxes, but was near enough to afford them a chance by giving them my vote joel rivard writes from ottawa i wonder if there's a law in canada that requires a certain percentage of the population to vote what would happen if only 25 of the population voted if there isn't a law should there there be? I would say we should,

similar to what many organizations do when members of an organization require official voting. I've been part of many meetings where votes are required and that quorum must be met. Could we and should we not do the same for our elected officials? We could set somewhere between 55% to 70%, and it might be a more digestible idea than mandating voting. Okay, that's interesting on the face of it, but how are you going to manage that?

I mean, to find out how many voted, you actually have to let people vote, right? As opposed to your example of, okay, we're not going to take this vote because we don't have a quorum in the room. You couldn't do that with an election because people are voting all day. You have no idea how many are voting. So it's more bureaucracy, more paperwork. And what are you telling the people who do come out to vote? Sorry, your vote's not going to count because there weren't enough people voting.

I don't know. Not sure. Don't think that works either. There were a lot of letters, not surprisingly, on guns, handguns, assault rifles. John McCann Jr. writes from Calgary. As a Canadian, I want to see less gun violence in our country, but to

focus on the already well-managed and monitored legal handguns in this country seems to be more about virtue signaling than concrete solutions to reduce shootings. The government has mentioned more focus on smuggling, which is a great thing, because this is the source of the overwhelming majority of handguns used in Canadian crime. I should say John wrote a very long letter. Many people wrote long letters this week, and I am just highlighting parts of them. feelings about the handgun issue especially are fairly common in a lot of the mail that I received this week. Christina Marshall writes,

she's actually writing from Phnom Penh in Cambodia. She was born in Finland at the age of three. Family moved to Scarborough, Ontario she moved to Cambodia in 2001 so more than 20 years ago and have moved between here and Toronto a few times over those last 20 years here's part of what she has to say

I've been saddened by the recent events south of the border and am once again thankful that as a young man, my father decided to study dentistry at the University of Waterloo in Canada rather than in the U.S. as he had initially intended. He arrived by boat to New York and after a little bit of time with his uncle and family decided he would be better off in Canada. This was during the McCarthy era and having recently arrived from Finland he felt he could easily become a target. We still have many relatives in the U.S. and I know that there are many people who stand against whatever it is that is rotten at the core of this nation. That's a phrase out of one of last week's podcasts.

And it was Chris Murphy, the U.S. Senator, who said that as a result of guns. The solution, writes Christina, is not as easy as gun control laws, but it would be a step in the right direction. Don Crawford from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. To have our elected government members stand up publicly and say that people who have done this legally for decades, this is follow the gun laws, are the problem, is very offensive.

Nobody who owns firearms legally and has gone through the vetting process has any intent of using guns for illegal purposes. When persons who have done everything by the book are demonized in this way, it is pretty much a kick in the groin from our government. As an aside, the.303 that Grandpa owned to hunt deer is now considered dangerous because of the new regulations regarding magazine size. They were manufactured standard with 10-round magazines. The new rules will mean they are to be permanently altered to hold no more than five rounds. The same holds true for Grandpa's made-in-Canada

Cooey.22 repeater that holds 11 rounds in the tube magazine. This new round of regulations will affect a lot more people than the ones who own the assault rifles and handguns. and the you know there's today's Thursday I'm not sure what time you're listening to this podcast but tonight is the night that the

January 6th committee begins its hearings in the United States and there's a great deal of anticipation will this make a difference of any kind? Tyrone Biljan. I can't remember where Tyrone is from. He's written before.

I think he's on the West Coast, but I'm not sure. Regarding the January 6th committee broadcast, I'm of the mind that much will happen afterwards not much will happen afterwards i too think that pretty much americans have decided what they believe regarding it already and can't see much change in their beliefs also think that the reason fox is the number one cable news network in the U.S. is largely because of public apathy. You can only take so much of punditry analysis regarding the January 6 events on the other cable news channels like MSNBC or CNN. And when nothing happens, what's the point of tuning in? Yeah, I hear you.

But I mean, it's not like there's no punditry on Fox. It's filled with the other side. And often filled with lies to make their case. But that's another issue. Okay. There you go. On some of the main topics that people have to write about, but there's a lot more, as there always is.

And we'll hear about it right after this. And welcome back. Peter Mansbridge here in Stratford, Ontario. You're listening to The Bridge on Sirius XM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. Some people say, well, what's the difference between those two ways of listening? Well, SiriusXM is heard all across North America. There's over 3 million subscribers. Just in Canada, it's a SiriusXM. And obviously millions more in the U.S. But it's available

across the continent. And I guess a little bit into Central America as well. And your podcast platform, whether it's Apple or Spotify or whatever it may be, you can download anywhere in the world. And that's why we get mail from places like Phnom Penh and Cambodia, as you heard just a few minutes ago. All right.

Let's listen to more, more of your thoughts, your take on various issues. Dan Pru from Kitchener, Ontario. On the topic of the mess at Pearson Airport, I've not flown since the start of the pandemic, but I have flown a lot from and to that airport, and I can just imagine the three-plus-hour lineups at Pearson. It's a disgrace. The government is failing us. I get it. However, you can check with Bruce Anderson on this, but I

sense that most Canadians right now are worried about the two-plus-dollar-per-litre of gas, the cost of food, and the cost of housing. Most Canadians are not worried about the two plus dollar per liter of gas, the cost of food and the cost of housing. Most Canadians are not worried about the lineups at Pearson. Thanks again for your show and please no episodes on pineapple pizza. I love pineapple pizza. What's the matter with you guys? There's another airport chaos story. Deborah Baker from Vancouver.

Just a sec. I got a cough. Okay. Did that. I also listened to, she talks about listening to the bridge and enjoying it I also listen to podcasts in the four languages other than English I speak

and I understand and a recent broadcast sorry let me try that again I also listen to podcasts in the four languages other than English that I speak and understand

and a recent podcast from the Netherlands had the two hosts lamenting airport chaos there. The airport chaos is not unique to Canada, although perhaps the reason is behind the Schiphol situation, that's the airport in Amsterdam, only partially related to roots of the Canadian problem. Yes, I mean, you're absolutely right, Deborah. There are airport chaos stories around the world right now.

It's a real roulette wheel in terms of how lucky you may or may not be in terms of your travel plans, because there are all kinds of backlogs all over the world. Pearson is bad, but it's not alone. Don Robertson writes from Edmonton. And this is a result of the program with Brian Stewart the other day on the global famine, the potential for it as a result of the war in Ukraine. Global food shortages, writes Don, are more predictable in pandemics,

so why aren't governments or private companies doing very much to prepare for the approaching catastrophes? The attempt to rescue grain from Ukraine sounds good, but will probably fail because Putin obviously wants it all for himself. Most of Western Canada gets a lot of its fruit and vegetables from the U.S., particularly California, which is rapidly turning into a dust bowl. One of these days, the Americans will say, Sorry, Canada, we don't have enough for you anymore. And they won't have much left for themselves either.

Is anything at all being done to make Canada's food supply more sustainable? No problem with meat and wheat, but what about other things that depend on our short growing season? Good questions. Vince Belanger from Kelowna. After listening to your frustrated mini rant about the high gas prices we're seeing and how you thought this may change people's driving habits, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. My wife and I were having this very same discussion on the weekend. After being on the road for over 40 years as an over-the-road and possibly over-the-hill trucker, there's one thing I have observed about human behavior. The moment that people get back behind the wheel of whatever

they're driving, all memory of how much it costs to fill the tank evaporates, and they continue to drive as they always have. I don't understand it, but I doubt it'll ever change. By the way, I was in Vancouver yesterday where current pump prices are $2.32.9 a liter. Mike Baranek. Or Baranek. Mike Baranek. Here's my question. I feel like I'm hearing a larger group calling to defund the CBC. I'm guessing it's the old attack that CBC are just a mouthpiece for the Liberal Party. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I have to be honest. I see no bias at all. Thank you. Mike. All governments are prone to scandal. When the Liberals are embroiled in a scandal, it seems I don't hear as much call for defunding the CBC. But when there's a scandal on the Conservative side reported by the CBC, I hear cries of Liberal bias. You're right, Mike. You know, I used to argue when I worked at the CBC,

and I remind people I don't work for the CBC anymore. I haven't for five years. So I do get a lot of mail asking me to just say this, that, or the other thing about the CBC. I'm not inside anymore, okay? I do the occasional freelance job for the CBC, but I'm not an employee at the CBC anymore. But this is what I used to say.

If you bother going back through the scandals that have led to resignations on the part of Liberal Cabinet Ministers or Liberal MPs or Liberal appointments, I defy you to find more of those as a result of any other news organization other than the CBC. It's that journalism that's led to those resignations or firings. So it doesn't square with the equation that some of the CBC mob argue. Now, I think it's good to have a vigorous conversation about the national public broadcaster.

It costs you a billion dollars a year or more to have a national public broadcaster. Is it worth it? Do they do things that you think are important to the country? And if they're not doing them, make the case what they should be doing. But I think when it gets to the crunch, most people believe in the idea of a national public broadcaster. They don't necessarily believe in the way the CBC

is performing that role. And I'm all in for that discussion. I think that all in for that discussion. I think that's the kind of discussion, you know, a country should have when it's spending that kind of money on having a national public broadcaster. Kevin Reimer writes from Simcoe, Ontario. I want to thank you for taking the time on june 6 in your podcast to remind us of the 14 000 canadian soldiers that stormed the beach to fight for our freedom but also the other battles that we have fought in past and present i know this has a

special meaning to you as it is to me we need to continue to remember and educate the next generation of all that happened on June 6th and past wars. Lest we forget, lest we forget our brave Canadian soldiers who fought for our freedom. Yes, sir, Kevin. Dr. Jamie Rothenberger from the University of Calgary. But he points out that, like many here, I'm originally from rural Saskatchewan. but dr rothenberger um wrote about monkeypox and covet and it's a long letter but i'm going to read a couple of sentences from it while the answer is inevitably complex this is why are we suffering from monkeypox

at the root of the matter is our changing relationship with nature through human activities. More specifically, the convergence of climate change, human population growth, urbanization, and environmental degradation have altered ecosystems and changed how we interact with wild animals in particular. Wild animals are the source of many new and emerging infectious diseases of people. And it is these upstream ecological changes that set up situations where pathogens can make the jump from animals to people. Barb Demaree. Barb got a kick out of the story i told the other day about being held up on the 401 for 90 minutes while they cleared the road of a

a tipped over semi-trailer there was had been carrying thousands of avocados, and the truck caught on fire, and the avocados were burning, and et cetera, et cetera. So Barb writes, just heard your story about the burning avocados and made me laugh out loud. You've never tried barbecued avocados, but you might now. This is going to be one of those stories that is going to be told many times. Well, I'm not sure about that, but who knows. Oh, here's another one about airports.

Because I have been called elitist for even mentioning the airport chaos story because I fly. So this letter comes from my friend Don katzik in nunavut who's calling you elitist call us inuit elitist too then as we don't have any choice but to travel by air and only get to see the nearest doctor in nunavut many inuit have to travel by air from smaller communities to either Iqaluit, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, or Edmonton just to see a doctor. Sometimes we're lucky, but very rarely they are in town. Elitists, who are they to call you that? I'm an Iqaluit. I was speaking for my friends and family that are living in smaller communities. That's my job. I work as a regional travel specialist. I just buy tickets and hotels if necessary for Inuit to see a doctor. It's a lot

of hard work, but it's for my fellow people. Well, Don, we appreciate what you do and we appreciate that backup. Clive Girvin from Kingston, Ontario. Very much appreciated your piece about the threatened Juneau Beach Centre surroundings. I visited the centre twice, 2011, 2017. And as well the grave sites nearby and agree with your sentiments about protecting the Juneau Beach Center from developers. I think there's going to be a solution to this story, and partly because people have

rallied around it for all the right reasons, and at the same time respecting the French. It is their country, after all. I'm 79 years old, says Clive, and have a son who's a major in the Canadian Army. He served in Afghanistan for eight and a half months in 2012, and again in Kuwait for six months in 2013. He serves currently in Saint-Jean, Quebec. Thanks again for your timely reminder of the sacrifice of June 6, 1944.

And many other days of sacrifice by the Canadian military. Monique Kondazila in Toronto. And this is a result of the conversations we had, the programs we did, on trying to bring certain aspects of history to our school agenda for lower grades and specifically the history of the Holocaust. So Monique writes, here's an idea. Many Canadians may not be aware of our National Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg. And what a wonderful opportunity for the museum to work directly with schools across the country to develop a human rights curriculum, to build awareness, educate, and to help develop our human rights advocates of tomorrow.

I think that's a great idea. I've been involved with the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg since its conception, since the Asper family. My old friend Izzy Asper in Winnipeg passed away some time ago now. But Izzy started this idea of the human rights museum his family backed it the Manitoba government backed it the Canadian government backed it there's a lot of your money in that museum and it's had its controversial days in terms of its inception the building of it the amount of money it costs to build it, and a few other things. But I'll tell you, if you go and visit it, it is amazing.

It is a great museum. We're lucky in this country, we have a lot of great museums. This is one of the greatest, in my view. And if there is some way of arranging, I know obviously in Manitoba, they have a great working relationship with the schools and there's a lot of school visits there. One of my daughters is a teacher in Manitoba and she's taken her class there quite a few times over the years. But the point is, if there's some way of expanding that role for the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg,

especially seeing as there, you know, a good sizable amount of federal money went into finishing that, if there's some way of connecting with schools outside of the province, obviously they're not going to be able to do day tours, but there's probably some audiovisual way of doing stuff. I think that would be a great idea and a great way of, you know,

increasing awareness on some of the big human rights issues of our past and our present. Just a couple of letters left. Lux Schmilly Narendra. She writes, actually she has a number of comments about a number of things, but the one I like that's really important is how she talks about the airport chaos story. This is what Lakshi says. I find myself wondering why as a society we are so much more tolerant of overcrowding, chaos, and understaffing in our emergency rooms than we are in our airports.

Our hospitals, particularly ERs, have been in crisis for years, but even more so recently due to staffing shortages. Yet I don't see nearly as much attention being drawn to it even during a provincial election as to the crowding in airports. What does that say about us as a society? That's a really good question, Lakshi. And one for us to contemplate. Now, the issue of overcrowding in hospitals has certainly been around for, well, decades. And in many cases still not resolved. But it does look a little odd when we're worried about overcrowding in airport security lines

when the system still is a problem in some hospitals. TC Sang from Vancouver. Many non-Western countries that rely on Ukrainian agricultural products have ambiguous positions on the war in Ukraine. The people and governments of these countries think the attention given to this war is because Ukraine is a European or white country. Some of these countries voted against or abstained UN resolutions condemning Russia's invasion of another member state.

Maybe these countries need to consider the consequences of reducing the war in Ukraine as just a white people conflict. Let me stir some people conflict well let me well stir some conversation okay

here's the last one and I think in some ways it embodies everything that we've

discussed so far today and I say that because no matter the topic that you wrote about today, you were inspired to write about it by the conversations you heard on the bridge in the past week or two. And that's the whole idea of the bridge. It's just kind of put it out there, put the talk out there,

put the topics out there, have the odd rant here or there that inspires you to think about the issues yourself in your own way, and in some cases, write about it. And I think that's great. That was the whole idea behind doing this.

I've enjoyed it. Hopefully you have as well. I know that Tony McKinnon in Hamilton is one of those people. Because is one of those people. Because he's written the shortest letter to ever be read on the Thursday episode of The Bridge. And it is this. Once again, from Tony McKinnon in Hamilton, Ontario.

Hi, Peter. That really was good talk this past week. Good talk is our most popular episode each week. They're all popular, but good talk is, it reaches that high bar good talk of course is Chantal Hébert in Montreal and Bruce Anderson in Ottawa

and I get to be the traffic cop and we're just 24 hours away from that now good talk Friday 12 noon eastern Just 24 hours away from that now. Good talk. Friday, 12 noon Eastern on Sirius XM. Repeated a number of times throughout the next weekend. And looking forward to bringing that to you. All right, I'm Peter Mansbridge.

Thanks so much for listening to The Bridge on this day.'ll be back as i said with good talk in 24 hours