The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn - June's Ask Me Anything

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

The final AMA before the summer break brings lots of new questions from our listeners about the podcast, journalism, politics, and me. The Random Ranter drops by as well with his last rant before the holidays, and it's his first time exploring the issue of immigration. 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 Vansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday. Thursday means your turn and the random ranter. And your turn it is. With an Ask Me Anything, the last one before the summer break. That's coming right up. And hello there.

Peter Mansbridge here. Here we are. Middle of June. We're past the middle of June. We're coming up. Next week is the final week. of the bridge before the summer break. And same kind of summer break as the past, you know, a half dozen years where there will be a

couple of special good talks. I'll give you those dates on Friday when we have our final good talk for this week and for this season. We'll be back once in July and once in August with checking in with Chantelle and Bruce. see what they have to say about things political that are going on. We still have a few shows to go. Our final show is next Wednesday. But Monday, of course, Janice will be here and we'll touch base on all things happening internationally

that we should be keeping in mind through the summer. And Janice, as much as she needs her break. She knows, and I know that if something really big happens, we will be around to talk about it. Tuesday is the final Moore-Buts conversation for the year, and I think that's going to be a good one. So you don't want to miss that on Tuesday. And Wednesday we'll do something as the final show of the year. It's not the final show of the year. It's the final show of the season before the summer break.

Now, for your turn this week, we had promised as the year started in January that we do and ask me anything once a month. And so this is the Ask Me Anything, the AMA for this month. And I didn't need, nor did I ask for any answers this week because we have so many from the past. We're going to plan catch up here and we're going to try and get to as many as we can of the questions that you already had sent in. So without further ado, let's get cracking. David Cartwright from Port Dover, Ontario, that's on the northeast shore of Lake Erie. As your family emigrated from England, that's true, in 1950s, early 1950s, why do you now go to Scotland to relax?

Do you have distant relatives there? More importantly, what do you do there, golf, gross shooting, visiting the abundant distilleries, or to just enjoy the ambience of Scotland. Well, England and Scotland share the United Kingdom, and so I feel when I come here, I'm in many ways coming home. But we're in northern Scotland. We're up in the highlands.

In fact, we're going to the York and the Islands this weekend, which is really north, right? um but why do we come here well it started with golf and my sort of passion for golf and traveling with my friends to to play golf then that morphed into traveling with my son to play golf with will and then that morphed into um cynthia saying hey i want to come as well now she doesn't golf but she has become a passionate admirer of Scotland and the people of Scotland. Now, we haven't lost our Canadian this. We go back to Canada next week, actually,

because we want to be there for Canada Day and for the summer, and we look forward to that. Nothing like a Canadian summer. But Scotland, it's still about golf, but it's about the remote nature of this part of Scotland. We love it. I love the people. And, you know, listen, I was in a very public role when I was full-time working in Canada.

And so was Cynthia as an actor, street legal and lots of other things. Stratford Festival. And as a result, you know, we were kind of very popular. public figures. Here we are not. Almost nobody knows who we are here. And that's pretty nice. Especially the older yet and you just want to enjoy life and travel and nature and the sites, all of which we do. So that's it. That's pretty much it. We're very lucky to be in the position to have you know, two homes in a fact. I mean, we're here, I don't know, you know, about four months a year,

four to four and a half months a year. Okay, moving on. David Little in Whitby, Ontario. I'd like your opinion on this. Has war, particularly for the United States, become less about winning and more about profit? From belt buckles to battleships, entire industries depend on sustained conflict. If so, is there a built-in incentive to prolong wars rather than end them,

since peace can mean the collapse of those revenue streams? P.S. one last question. Do your friends ever call you Pete? Oh, yeah. Some do. You know, war is undoubtedly good for some parts of the economy. The people who manufacture weapons, for example, I've read studies of debate whether in pure economic terms war is good or bad, but I think you'd have to be pretty cynical to believe a country like the United States would go to war to grow the economy or to benefit certain industries.

The threat of war is actually enough to keep what Dwight Eisenhower called the military industrial complex humming quite nicely, and he warned us about that. Roland Lewis in Gattano, Quebec, if I understand Chantelle-A-Barre correctly, she was saying that Danielle Smith doesn't represent the separatist movement in Alberta because her political party didn't present itself to the electorate as a separatist party. Do you think Danielle Smith has any skin in this game? The Federalist side wins. She remains premier.

The Federalist side loses. She retains her job and begins the legal process to break up the country. There should be consequences to her actions. You know, Mark Carney, Mark Carney's made the same argument about the Alberta referendum that the question is undemocratic because no Alberta party ever ran on that promise in an election. Unlike the Patte Quebec law, which is openly dedicated to separation from Canada.

Daniel Smith is, listen, she's walking a tightrope. She says she believes in Canada, but she leads a party which may in fact have a majority of its members in the separation camp. It may seem like she can't lose, but maybe the truth is she can't win. John Minchell in Comox Valley, BC. Who of your colleagues at the CBC did you find easiest to work with on news stories and why? Oh, there were so many. Listen, I've worked at the CBC for 50 years.

at all kind of levels of the chain, I started in the Northern Service. I worked in Churchill, Manitoba. I started a newscast there. Then I worked in Winnipeg. Then I worked in Regina. Then I moved to Ottawa, then to Toronto, and spent lots of time overseas, you know, filling in for correspondence different times. So in all these places, I work with some great people,

fellow journalists, producers, editors, technical crews, camera, sound, lighting. I do, you know, I worked with a lot of people. They were all great. You know, I don't want to

duck the question. But I was a, I was very lucky. I got to work with some amazing people, all of whom I learned a lot from. So to pick up, you know, one person here or there, I'm not sure. You know, as I moved up to the ladder and eventually became the chief correspondent, you know, I had a lot of respect for those who were themselves working their way up the line.

I remember when Adrian Arsenal first sort of appeared in the newsroom. It was a really smart person who became a great reporter and correspondent writer and, you know, her own. producer at times and now she's an anchor and she likes so many others there we're always a treat to work with Joan Pickering I grew up on Prince Edward Island currently live in Switzerland in a small village near Lozanne knowing how hard it is to find unbiased news sources if they even exist what criteria would you recommend for finding reliable news? What sources would you recommend as being relatively unbiased for Canadian, American, and international news? Okay, listen, reliable sources do exist, news sources. Now, I define that by

looking at whether they separate opinion from fact, whether they fundamentally believe in democracy and informing citizens so they can affect government, you know, with informed views. And whether they spend time and money-gathering news and don't just pass on what others have reported. CBC, for all its faults, is still trying. CTV has made severe budget cuts, which has left it unable to gather enough news on its own, especially foreign news. The Globe and Mail is good. The Toronto Star, the Canadian press is good, but of course it doesn't have its own network or newspaper. In the U.S., the New York Times, is without peer.

The Washington Post has wobbled recently, not held by its ownership. The Wall Street Journal does good work, but since it's owned by Rupert Murdoch, it has a shadow over it. CBS has a shadow. We've talked about that often on this show in the last couple of months. NBC and ABC are reliable, but spend a lot of time on trivia. Internationally, the BBC, the Guardian, come to mind. Gary Gould in Brantford, Ontario. What's something Canadian,

what's something Canadians believe about the country that you think is not true? Well, I think you all know about how I feel about Canada and about Canadians, but I think we may underestimate how many people in the country aren't as nice and as pleasant as we'd like to think.

You know, I think a couple of years ago, some of those who were involved in the trucker's convoy should have opened our eyes to that element of the population. Rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia is another eye-opener. Bad things happen when we aren't vigilant. Michael Brown in Brockville, Ontario.

The Albertans that I know and met myself while vacationing in Alberta are proud Canadians who deeply love our country. I remember the phrase the West wants in. Now some 35% want out. You know, the 35%, it may be 35%, it may be 25%. It may be 20%. We're about to find out, I guess. It makes my blood boil. It feels like betrayal. This is Michael talking again. Of all the sacrifices of our forefathers and foremothers. When you were covering the referendums in Quebec,

how did you keep cool and calm? You know, the reporting, the job of reporting on referendum night was to keep cool and calm. There's no value to becoming, you know, hysterical or partisan because it hurts your credibility. In 1995, our referendum, random night coverage was done with a lot of reporters from the local Montreal newsroom.

They obviously were deeply, emotionally, personally invested in the results and would be immediately living with the consequences. I remember our senior producer, he was a former Montrealer, gathering all the people involved that night together for a talk about how to control themselves on the air, no matter what happened. just report what was happening. No panic, no doomsday talk, level-headedness all night long. And that's what we tried to do.

Grant Wilson in Squamish, BC. I'm 78. In 2022, I drove from Glasgow to Dundee up to the Orkneys, down to sky, over to Lewis, then back. In 2025, it was Inverness to drive all of the Outer Hibberties, then back, V. a sky. When finished, I told myself that was the last time as it's getting two tense. Do you have your own car there and how comfortable are you driving? I do have a car here. And it, you know, listen, it takes a while to get comfortable and you've always got to be vigilant no matter where you're driving, whether it's in Scotland or Canada. But I love the driving here. I love the beauty of the countryside.

It's, you know, it's not like you're on the 401 here. You can't drive at speed. You know, if you average 50 miles an hour driving in the country in Scotland, you're doing fine. You try to drive 75 and you're going to get yourself in trouble. And we're talking miles an hour here, not clicks. Amanda Gavignon in Windsor, Ontario. What is the sovereign wealth fund?

I know what some kind of fund started with a loan, but I feel I'm not truly grasping it. Do people just shove money into it without expecting anything back on a personal level? I feel it hasn't been explained well yet. Good question. To be honest, the government hasn't really given us many details yet. A sovereign wealth fund is money owned by the,

the state and invested in financial assets. Usually they're used when a country has extra money. Rather than keeping the funds in a central bank or spending it within the country to help the economy, a sovereign wealth fund allows the country to invest that money and see a return on it. Of course, Canada doesn't have extra money right now, so it appears that Amanda is right and that the initial deposits will be money that Canada borrows. The other unusual thing is that.

that Ottawa says it will allow Canadians as well as foreign investors to participate directly in the fund through a new retail investment product, something like a bond, I guess. But really, we don't have any detail. But Amanda, if a person invests in this, it would not be a charitable donation. You'd expect some sort of return. Vern Classen in Sanford, Manitoba, that's just south of Winnipeg. What interesting experiences did you have or hear about when you lived in Churchill with the polar bears that live in the area? Hey, I lived in Churchill for three years.

I saw polar bears. They used to pass through town every year on their migratory path. They usually gather around the dump just outside of Churchill. And for an adventure, you'd drive out to the dump. you'd see polar bears until they became threatening. They'd come into town sometimes. They'd break into homes. It'd certainly break into garbage.

So you had to beware. Listen, they're a gorgeous animal, but they're big, and they're fast and they're dangerous, and they can kill. So this wasn't like a petting zoo. Ian Moore in Calgary, over the course of your life and career with the CBC, how many countries have you traveled to? With all out traveling, I'm sure you have Air Canada million-mile-er status. Can you confirm my hunch?

I do. I mean, I've been traveling by air almost all my life. My first flight was in, I think, in 1950 on our DC3 from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia

what was then Malaya but Air Canada I've been you know listen I worked in the airlines first of all for Trans Air which eventually became a part of Air Canada through a series of different ownership changes but I've been a big traveler throughout my broadcast career

and I've always been a fan of Air Canada and I know sometimes some people don't like to hear that but I've traveled a lot of different airlines in the world and trust me Air Canada is one of the best and I do have I've got 2 million mile status actually so there you go How many countries have I been to? I haven't, you know, I always mean to count, but I haven't counted.

But I've been to every continent except Antarctica. Leo Bourdong in Ottawa, every federal election, only 60% of eligible Canadians vote on average. It's lower for provincial elections, roughly 50%, and municipal elections where we consider it lucky to reach 40%. Why do you think so many Canadians are disengaged, What can engage citizens do to help our fellow Canadians participate in elections? Stats Canada has done research on this,

and it says the most common reason people give for not voting in a federal election is not being interested in politics. I guess what that means is open to interpretation. It's hard to imagine people aren't interested in the results of what politicians do. After all, they're the ones who set tax. rates manage the health system our schools the rules around media the police even how traffic flows at the local level so maybe it maybe it means they aren't interested in how politics is done the attacks the insider games you know the partisanship i guess the obvious answer to how we change our voter reaction to all

that is to change how politics is done you know many politicians who would like to do that, but it's hard to do things differently in an entrenched system. And of course, so many people believe that politicians are in it for themselves, not for you. I don't believe that's the case. And if you don't believe that, I guess you should be talking to your friends and neighbors to persuade them that they're wrong. And they emphasize that political decisions really affect their lives. You know, and it's part of being a citizen to respect that obligation. to take part in the process.

And taking part in the process includes voting. Okay. That's roughly the halfway mark. We're going to take quick break, come back with a random rant. You have a really interesting last rant before the summer to give you some thought. And we'll do that.

But first of all, we'll do this. And welcome back. You're listening to the Bridge, the Thursday episode this week. That is your turn. Ask Me Anything is our question subject for this week. We've heard a lot already and we've got a lot more to go. But we always take this break on Thursdays. To listen to enjoy or not so much, the random renter.

And we're going to do that. Right now, here he is, our friend, the Random Ranter with this week's rant. You don't have to dig deep to find an immigration element to many of the major issues in this country. From affordable housing to accessible health care to social programs, unemployment, education, and more. It's a hot topic creating backlash not only here, but right around the world. And I'm not just talking about Trump's America. It's England, Germany, France, even New Zealand of all places. So it should come as no surprise that we're wrestling with some of the same anti-immigration sentiments here too.

I mean, we're hyper-focused on the separation question in the upcoming Alberta referendum, but of the 10 questions on that ballot, five of them have to do with immigration. Now, on a certain level, I understand the backlash. It's nothing new. Immigrants throughout history have been targeted as convenient scapegoats for the troubles of the day. So why should what's happening now be any different? I mean, I know we like to think of ourselves as evolved, but sometimes you really have to question to what degree. Now, as far as I'm concerned, there's no understating or denying it. Immigration has made Canada what it is today. It's how this country was built and how this country thrives.

Immigration has always fueled our economy, and there's no reason it shouldn't continue to work the same way in the future. I mean, it wasn't long ago that provinces and businesses, including Alberta, including Daniel Smith, were clamoring for more immigration, more temporary foreign workers, and more foreign students. Industry needed them to drive their trucks, work their drive-thrus, and slaughter their meat.

Chronically underfunded colleges and universities needed their tuition to survive. And with immigration accounting for 25% of registered nurses and 42% of nurses' aides, would we even have a functioning healthcare system without immigrants? I somehow doubted. But you know, if you take the emotion out of it, If you put aside the nativism, the unconscious biases, and all the unstated, underlying, very real racism, the argument for immigration is pretty simple.

It goes something like this. If you want to grow your economy, you need to grow your population. And without immigration, Canada's population growth is actually negative. That's right. All of our growth is coming from new Canadian. So there you have it. It's not complicated. If you want someone to pay it into your pension, to fund your health care, or to buy your house when you're done with it, then you have to be open to immigration. Because without it, the whole system will collapse. But beyond being vital to the future of our

nation, immigration is just the right thing to do. Canada is an amazing land of opportunity, in a world racked by strife. Why shouldn't we share it? I know a lot of people somehow think that immigrants are taking something away from them. But the reality is, immigration makes us all richer. It's good for the economy. It's good for our culture. And there's no denying.

It's really great for Friday night takeout options. And look, the harsh reality is immigration is going to happen whether we embrace it or not. I mean, climate change is bringing with it. unbearable heat, devastating storms, rising seas, famines, water shortages, and wars, lots and lots of wars. International aid to developing nations is being cut across the board, and programs that dealt with disease, water quality, and education, they're all going, going, gone. It's really created a situation where people are on the move, and it's not because they want to be. it's because they have to be.

And who can blame them? Do we expect people to just accept their fates without trying to do better for their families? Look, I'm very pro-immigration, but it's not the economic reasons that shape my beliefs. It's my personal experiences. I have a lot of friends who are immigrants, and they've all contributed greatly to this country.

They're as Canadian as I am, maybe even more so, because they've experienced the other side, and have chosen this country. Me? I was just born here. Well, isn't that something? The random renter on immigration.

You know, we haven't talked about immigration that much on this program over the last five years, but it is undoubtedly an issue for a lot of Canadians. I feel strongly about it. on either side of the issue. And now you know where the ranter stands. And I think he's given us all a lot to think about there. Just like everything else he does.

You don't have to agree with him. But it does make you think about it. So there you go. The random ranter for this week and for this season, he'll be back like everybody else on the program. Graham this fall, starting right after Labor Day. And we look forward to hearing. Hope he has a great summer.

All right, back to our, ask me anything questions. This one's from Martin Barron, or Martin Barron in Toronto. I'm curious about the role of corrections in journalism. Was there ever a story where you later realized you had gotten the facts wrong? Never, not me.

I never got anything wrong. Sure. There were times when an error may have slipped through. It could have been a small, tiny error, but an error, nevertheless. Martin says, if so, did you issue a correction? Yes. What was the most significant or memorable correction you ever had to make? And how did you feel about it personally and professionally?

I never recall having to be involved in a major correction during my time. um, anchoring the news. But every journalist I know hates to make a mistake, but it's inevitable that they will make them small, perhaps, but make them nevertheless. You just hope every mistake is a relatively small one. It's easy, for example, when someone dies, to look up the year they were born,

do the math, and report how old they were. If someone born in 1946 died today, you might report they were 80 years old. But maybe they were, you were. were born in November of 46, so they were really just 79, and you were on deadline, so you didn't notice that, and so you made a mistake. That's a small mistake. And use paper might make a correction notice the next day. In TV, we usually didn't draw attention to that kind of correction because we thought it would over-emphasize the error. We just report the age of 79 going forward.

We did correct more serious errors and note them on error. We once mixed up two MPs on video from the House of Commons. I talked about it in my book, you know, off the record. They both had silver-gray hair, and the shot was from behind, and we messed up. Now, that was kind of a medium-sized error. He has involved two well-known politicians, and we got them confused, and they were from different parties, and it was just, it was bad.

Now, as it turned out, they found it funny, but it could have been worse. As I said, I don't remember any major errors. I remember reporting stories that became controversial, and some people said they were wrong, but I didn't waver they weren't wrong. And I find it, you know, unfortunate some people have written, stories since years later with no proof for never having talked to me that the stories were

wrong so i'm not even going to give it more time than that joseph murdock flowers in a caliphate as you know i run keyachtervic which is the community food center in achalibate it's a great job where i get to think about food every day one of the best things about it is i get to ask people about their experiences with food. So my question, will you please tell us about your favorite food memory? What was it? And why is it so special to you?

Listen, my favorite food memory, God, I've hundreds of favorite food memories. Because I've been lucky enough to travel, you know, as the ranter says, we're lucky in this country because on a Friday night, can get almost any kind of world food right here in Canada,

especially in major cities. I remember a meal I had on the West Bank. I was in covering the Intifada. I think it was the second Intifada. And we were trying to do a profile of a family on the West Bank. And we agreed to meet in a restaurant. And the restaurant went out of its way to make a fantastic. It was a lunch, and it was unbelievable, the most incredible food, you know,

amazing vegetables and lamb. I mean, it was a, that's always gone down as my favorite meal ever anywhere. Gregor Cutaback in Calgary. Now that you are in Scotland for the summer, what is your, is like a drink of choice, I guess. Are you a single malt man or do you prefer blends? Spaceide Highland, Lowland, or Islay? You know, I'm not a big Scotch drinker, even though I have a partnership in a distillery in Northern Scotland.

But I guess if I had to choose, it would be a little. single mall. Highland. Judy Skeen in Sue St. Marie. I'm still hanging on at 86 and I have to tell you I spent Christmas in Sri Lanka and brought in the New Year in Malaysia.

Two countries I've been to and lived in one of them in Malaya. The highlight of the trip was ticking off the last of the seven modern wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal from my list. Never seen it. I know you are a busy man, but I

have to ask, when are you going to Antarctica? Well, it's still on my to-do list. I've been offered trips there by some of the cruise lines who, you know, want me to come and speak on the cruise ships. And you never know. One of these days, I may take them up on that. Brian Karasik in Nannus Bay, British Columbia, that's on the southern end of the Vancouver Island. Well, maybe not the end, but it's in southern Vancouver Island.

Over your long career, you've had the fortunate pleasure to interview numerous prime ministers. Can you share a few thoughts about your memorable conversations with both former prime ministers Jean-Cretchen and Pierre L. Trudeau? You know, once again, I've been very lucky, right? When I list all the prime ministers and what, there have been, what, 24 of them? I've interviewed half of them at one time or another. In some cases, they were no longer prime minister. But the way I look at them as opposed to which was the most memorable

or which one did you like the best or any of that is the very fact that I'm there sitting or standing across from one of Canada's prime ministers. They're all memorable in that sense, no matter what happens in the interview. You know, that stretches across my career. You know, Pearson and Defenbaker I interviewed before, or sorry, after they were prime ministers.

But they were still prime ministers. So I have, I find all those moments, memorable and especially for me, this kid from Churchill, Manitoba, didn't get his high school degree. They somehow made it into, you know, the territory which allowed me to do interviews like that. So as I said, they're all memorable. Neil Dodd in Air, Ontario. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on public funding for the CBC.

I hope it never disappears, as I believe it plays an important historical. role in Uniting Canada. At the same time, given the public distrust of the broadcaster, do you think it should continue to receive public funding? Well, let's do some basic facts first. For the 26-27 fiscal year, the federal government is allocating approximately $1.38 billion to the CBC. That's a lot of money, and with that comes a lot of responsibility. And Canadians have to determine, whether that money is well spent. I'm a huge believer in public broadcasting and a national public broadcaster.

But it's got to perform in a way that Canadians respect, admire, and trust. So you've got to think about that. But that $1.38 billion is a lot of money, but it does represent a decrease of 192 million from the previous year. But broadcasters and public broadcasters around the world are going through transition to try and determine what the landscape is for broadcasting today, television broadcasting.

I mean, I just witness what goes on here at the BBC. They're having to cut, cut, cut, cut. And where are they cutting? They're cutting in news. People depend on broadcasts. and especially public broadcasters to give them news they can trust. A lot of the surveys I've seen about the CBC and Canada, the number one reason Canadians want public broadcasting,

of those who do want public broadcasting, is for news and current affairs. It's not cheap to do it well. Good journalism costs money. Rachel Evans in Allison, Ontario. With your strong connection to all things Canadian, I am curious whether Canadian art history interests you, you. Is there an artist for the past or present whose work particularly resonates with you?

There are many, including my wife. It's a pretty good painter. The group of seven work is always something that I can stare at for hours on end. Ray Kohannock in Winnipeg. This is by far the most incompetent and dishonest cabinet in recent U.S. history. Why do respected U.S. journalists continue to treat these officials with unearned kid gloves instead of digging deeper and exposing the incompetence, duplicity, and corruption? Are they or their editors simply afraid? Look, I agree with your assessment of the U.S. cabinet.

I know it's frustrating to hear a journalist start a question with Mr. Secretary or Madam Secretary, especially since many journalists are, far more knowledgeable and experienced than the secretary they're talking to. Imagine how frustrated they are dealing with the incompetence. But they show respect for the office, not necessarily the person, because that's the only way to get them to take a question and supply and answer, no matter how ill-informed it may be. These are news reporters, not columnists or opinion show hosts.

One way to look at it is that you know how bad the cabinet is. How do you think, you know, because you've seen them in action through and with reporters. They have reported how incompetent some of those people are. Garth Wilson in Bowmanville, Ontario. You worked for a public broadcaster for nearly 50 years. Good journalism connects the dots for us, but honestly, how hard is it to get the real story out? Reporters need access, and so many competing interests can determine the shape of that access. I trust legacy media and believe public control is critical,

seeing the pressures on private U.S. networks to conform coupled with influencer amplification that distorts messaging is worrisome. Can we ever trust again? Well, isn't that the story of our times in dealing with the media? You know, you can't necessarily trust some U.S. media because they've shown themselves to be quite cowardly in facing down the Trump administration. settling lawsuits they would have won just to stay in his good books. That's not a problem in Canada.

The problem here is that the news media is ever shrinking. Local newspapers, radio stations, TV stations are cutting reporters almost every day. Without reporters chasing the news, the rest is hollow. Damon Hibbert in Sudbury, Ontario. I remember years ago you used to host in conversation with CBC foreign correspondence in front of a live audience.

I thought it gave excellent insight into what foreign correspondents go through professionally and in their personal lives. I don't believe they do this anymore. Any insights on why and perhaps provide some of your thoughts, memories on hosting this event?

You know, you're a good... You've got a good memory, Damon. Because you're quite correct. In my time, CBC News Forest correspondence didn't have a union, but they had an association that had negotiated an annual meeting amongst themselves and CBC managers in Canada. So when that meeting happened,

we took advantage of their presence to do the program you're talking about in front of a live audience. We did in many places. We did, obviously, in Toronto, we did in Montreal. I can remember a great one. We did in Halifax. And then we put it on television. We did several in my own.

my time. Quite a few. And they were really well received. Now, I don't even know what the arrangement is anymore. Do all the foreign correspondents come home once a year like they used to? Part of the expense, there's an expense obviously assigned to that, bring them home, but there's also no expense in sending people out to fill in for their roles for the week they're away. Can't leave the world uncovered. And especially in today's world where there seems to be always something huge going on. That was a really good idea that the CBC did. We also did it occasionally, I think, with domestic correspondents.

I don't know that it's happening anymore. I don't think it is. I certainly haven't seen one. I'm sure Adrian would be like would love to do one. She was always a great participant in the ones, some of the ones I did when she became a foreign correspondent. Esther Ewing in Gravenhurst, Ontario. What one thing that could be done to improve our Canadian society by the federal government, by journalists or podcasters, by ordinary citizens?

That's a big question. So quickly. You know, not just the federal government, but all governments have to remember that their primary job is not to be reelected. It's to do the hard things, the right things, even if they're unpopular. That's easy to say, of course, and some past governments have said it, but they've got to do it. Journalists are not the same as podcasters, but if both would honor the truth as their unmistakable guidepost, we'd be better off. Ordinary citizens have to live up to their responsibilities as citizens contribute to society.

Don't just whine and grouse and complain. You know, JFK said, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. I think that's the essence of citizenship, recognizing that we all have a role, no matter how small, in making things better.

Mark Sullivan in Ottawa, I'm a high school teacher of 14 years, love my job, despite many of the challenges that have been well reported on lately, phone use, student absenteeism, etc. My question is, can you think of a particularly impactful teacher in your life? When in your life did you encounter them and what impact did they have on you?

You know when? You've got to read our new book, Mark Bulgutche and I. It's called The Noble Profession. It's released this fall. It's in the beginning of November. It's all about teachers. And we're biased. both Mark and I.

We each have kids who teach. This is a very pro-teacher book. You want to read this. Once again, I said it's coming out this fall. Simon & Schuster is the publisher. You can pre-order it now through Simon and Schuster. But as we creep closer to the release date, you know, all the bookstores,

the independent ones and the big ones like Indigo. And Heather Reesman has said she's going to do a big thing on a noble profession. She's very interested in it. And a big believer in teachers. So keep in mind, as I said earlier, I didn't get my graduation in high school, my senior matriculation, as they used to call it. Now, that wasn't a reflection on my teachers.

That was a reflection on me. Mark Lawrence in Okotoketoks, Alberta, what are your favorite podcasts and recommendations for a replacement podcast over the summer? And that's going to be our last question for this week. You know, I'm not going to just isolate one or two. I mean, there are some very good podcasts. There's some very bad podcasts.

There's some great international podcasts. There are some very good American podcasts. But if I were you, I'd search your Canadian podcast, whether it's west of center with my friend Kathleen Petty out of Calgary, which focuses on, not solely, but focuses on Western Canada. And there's certainly a lot going on there right now. But as I said, there are lots of different ones. There's a good new one from CBC, two blocks from the White House. by the Washington Bureau of the CBC. So anyway, I, you know, look around over the summer,

but don't forget the bridge will be back. And we've been very lucky over our five or six years. We've done thousands of episodes. They're all available online. You know, you can still get them. And we've been, as I said, very successful. where the almost every week

we're the top-ranked Canadian political podcasts according to Apple. Sometimes there are American political podcasts that are ahead of us. Let me look at what's happening right now. I'll just pull up the latest rankings if I can find them.

Here we are. Number one, politics podcasts. Apple. Number one is the bridge. Number two is Pod Save America. Number three, another American podcast, the Midas Touch, the Bullwork podcast. It's number four. So there's your top four. And what's at the top? The bridge. So we've earned our summer off, most of it anyway, but we will be back. So that's going to do it for today. We'll be back tomorrow with Good Talk, the final Good Talk, before the summer break and then we're back

at the early part of the next week so Janice still got one more show on Monday. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening to me and treat talk to you as always and answering some of you or ask me anything questions.

We'll talk again in less than 24 hours.