The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn on the CBC -- and The Random Ranter on the Convoy.

Episode Date: October 27, 2022

Dozens and dozens of emails answering the question posed the other day -- if there's one thing you would do to the CBC what would it be? Your thoughts, ideas and questions about the CBC headline the podcast today, and the Ranter pops by with his take on the Convoy.

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. And hello there, as we edge closer to the end of another week here on The Bridge. I don't think I've ever received so much reaction as I have this week when I asked a rather simple, straightforward question, which was, what would you do if there was one thing, what would you do to the CBC? And this is a result of an article I was reading the other day from the bbc

the bbc approaching its 100th anniversary and one of its media editors wrote a great piece on bbc online the other day which was five things to see the bbc needs to do to face the challenges it's meeting right now. Broadcasting in general and public broadcasting for sure is meeting challenges in different parts of the world or is trying to meet them. And the BBC is certainly one of those. So is the CBC. And therefore, the question posed to our audience today, which was, if there was one thing you'd do to the CBC, what would it be?

Now, I expected some reaction. I mean, I'm assuming that this podcast has a lot of crossover loyalties. I mean, there are clearly a lot of CBC loyalists out there who listen to this podcast because of my past connection with the CBC. You know, 50 years at the public broadcaster gave me a great life and a great career. There's no question about that. And I enjoyed it immensely. And I have a lot of strong feelings about the CBC and continue to do this day. I think it's absolutely necessary in our country to have a national public

broadcaster. And I also believe it's absolutely necessary that the public engages on the issue of the CBC and says exactly how it feels. I mean, after all, there's more than a billion dollars of your money going to support the CBC. So I threw that question out and I got a lot of varied answers. Many of them deal with news, I guess, not surprisingly,

because that's where I came from. And while this podcast is not a newscast, and I have to keep telling people that, it's just a podcast. It's, you know, opinion. It's back and forth on the issues of the day. It's not a newscast. But obviously, people have a lot of expectations out of the news that they are given by various broadcasters

and especially by the CBC. So not surprisingly, a lot of the comments today are about that. But let me get to it. A lot of you wrote, in spite of my plea, one thought. Many of you wrote lengthy letters, which underlines the importance of the CBC to you, one way or another. And I appreciate that.

I've read them all, but I'm only isolating a sentence or two from each letter. So please keep that in mind. And not all the letters make it onto the program. A lot of people are writing weekly, and I love that. I love it. But I am trying to spread the love by getting a reflection of different people. Some of you are remembering to add where you're writing from. Not all of you are.

Please do that. Don Robertson writes from Edmonton. What would I like to do about the CBC? One thing on the list is that I would like to make it more relevant to all Canadians. That is what it's supposed to be in the first place. Was it not? It was supposed to be a source of information and entertainment for all Canadians. That is what it's supposed to be in the first place, was it not? It was supposed to be a source of information and entertainment for all Canadians, and for many decades,

it was possible to have something for everybody. But it lost its focus and sense of purpose many years ago. And now it is in such a mess, it might be too late to do anything to save it. For some reason, the present management seems to want to mostly appeal to small minority obsessing on issues like race, gender, etc. It also seems to be trying to copy the US and all of its issues. Okay, I'm just going to read these. I'm not necessarily going to comment on them.

I don't agree with everything that's being said here, but I want you to have your voice. Lucas Bartlett writes, he's also in Edmonton. I'm an avid defender of the CBC, and I recoil when I hear people suggest that we should defund the CBC. The value it provides is certainly worth the cost, in my opinion. I'm only 25, and I've been using the CBC for years. Many young people I know trust the CBC as well.

It has a young audience. It's certainly trying to have a young audience. And as far back as I can remember, the goal was always we've got to get a younger audience because the average age CBC listener viewer is somewhere in the high 50s, low 60s, depends on which service you're watching or listening to. But they want to try and bring that number down. Don Mitchell from Regina. Get it back into local news. For example, western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan have no real TV newscasts anymore. Re-establish

the CBC presence in these types of underserved areas would help with the perception issue that the CBC only cares about big urban issues. That hurts the CBC. Stephanie Kinsman writes, I'd bring back Street Sense. It was a very popular young people's program. As well as other youth programming like Jonavision. And get Rick ranting again, Rick Mercer. Then reformat them to be more like TikTok videos. Short and meme-ready for social sharing.

Wayne Todd writes from Toronto, The CBC, one change I would make is to provide translation or subtitles to English of all its French news broadcasts and opposite for English broadcasts. This is an interesting idea. I'm not sure it would work for any number of reasons, including expense. It is expensive to get accurate, immediate subtitles. But the idea here has always been that, you know, one way to break down the two solitudes is for each of those solitudes

to understand what the other is actually talking about in daily context. So I'm not sure how that would work. Have the national every night subtitled in French. Téléjournal, the Quebec equivalent, or it's not Quebec, it's a French Canada equivalent of the national, subtitled in English. Interesting idea. Pages stuck together here

Michael Brisson Kitchener here's my idea this day had 24 hours a daily radio spoof on the ubiquitous entertainment tonight shows featuring improv Max Fergusonian skits. There's a name we haven't heard for a few decades.

Max was a great way to wake up. Skits about CBC management, gossip, power struggles, fights about content dynasties with characters played by the comedic talents such as we enjoy on The Debaters. Sort of a nightly wacky shareholders meeting where we, Canadians, the shareholders, are Hey, I'd listen to that. Sandy McCabe in London, Ontario. The only TV I watch is CBC.

I'm as loyal as they come. CBC radio is not my favorite, though. Boy, you don't rarely hear that. There seems one too many options for me. Music? What for? I get my music in so many other ways. Why have a channel devoted to it and instead focus on

better, more timely news from across Canada and the world? Mike Baranek from Belleville, Ontario. Here's what Mike has to say. To be honest, I would not change a thing. I love the CBC and depend on it.

I recently cut my cable. And with my savings, I stream CBC Gem. I also pay $5 a month to CBC, and I get all their programming commercial free. All right, Mike. Mike was worried that was not the answer I was looking for because I just wanted one thought on what you do to the CBC. Well, one thought of what you do to the CBC is you wouldn't touch a thing.

That is a thought. Eileen Crooks from St. Albert, Alberta. The discussion about the value of local media really resonated with me. I live just outside Edmonton, so all of our local news is focused on issues of relevance to Edmontonians, which I guess I understand. However, I have to work pretty hard

to learn what's happening in my city council in St. Albert. Most citizens don't have the time or energy to do so. Regarding your question specifically about the CBC, based on today's conversation about citizen literacy, about Canadian institutions and how governance works, maybe Canadians need some Civics 101 training. Could the CBC help with that?

Maybe short, shareable digital pieces. Heather, I think it's McPherson in New Market. In terms of television, have a much more informative news rather than the same mainstream reports. The world is a big place with plenty going on in it. Rid the advertisements during the news. Hear, hear. You got it, Heather.

Why there's ads on the news on CBC is beyond me. Surely there can be one, don't call me surely. Surely there can be one place on the CBC that's commercial free in prime time. And that should be the news, the national. But it's not. To me, that's outrageous. Don't give me this stuff about, oh, you know, we need money. Get money some other way.

You know? Anyway, as I said This isn't about me This is about you Renee Switzer From Roberts Creek British Columbia I'd like to see the CBC step back

From what I call the talking head syndrome The 24 hour news cycle Encourages this type of programming. Listening to a bunch of people who are not journalists offer their opinions that are politically biased to their own personal views is not helpful. The world is a very stressful place, even more so since the pandemic.

What we need are the facts. I'm old enough to remember Walter Cronkite delivering the facts. I'm old enough to remember Walter Cronkite delivering the news. The greatest, Walter. I remember the day I was on his show, but this is not about me. Don Whitmore, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. How do we save the CBC? The answer to that is in the question. It's up to us to save the CBC. We have to listen to the CBC more often and more regularly.

We have to show the defunders that we believe in the CBC. We have to give feedback to the CBC about how they can be more relevant to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That is the secret, Don. You've got to listen and you've got to be prepared to say what you want that's better. Right? What you think is missing in today's CBC. Adrian Hill from Crystal Beach. That's near Ottawa.

Or it's in Ottawa. CBC News routinely shill for an upcoming news broadcast with a soundbite of a zinger from a story to be featured. Then they include the zinger at the beginning of the broadcast and again before each commercial break. You might see the zinger three to six times before the actual story is aired and inevitably the zinger has told the whole story it's annoying it wastes time that could be spent giving us actual news no budget for more news take turns reading a lead story from a different canadian city or town or issue

i have some sympathy for that argument and used to argue it myself that I thought we were spent far too much time promoting other CBC news programs in the CBC newscast. I thought that was, that there was something off putting about that, but I lost that battle too. Rachel Leibovitz. I would love a return

to investigative journalism. Now, I think, you know, to be fair, there's a lot of investigative journalism that's done. You might not like the kind of investigative journalism, but there is on the Fifth Estate,

there is on Marketplace, and there is to a degree on the National. Anyway, I'd love a return of investigative journalism with all this talk on free speech investigative journalism journalism brings out enough information to the forefront in such a detailed way that everyone reading it has more than enough content to digest for days it's easier to make informed comments and thoughtful, proactive suggestions.

How are we doing on time? Wow, we're cooking here. Mary M. from Charlottetown. What's one thing I'd do about the CBC? Having lived through Hurricane Fiona on Prince Edward Island and having had our battery-operated radio, the only contact that we had with the outside world for days was CBC radio.

I'd like to see each region have at least a constant connection to other people via CBC radio, but with only the one program per region. The phone-ins and conversations about what was happening and where during the hurricane were a godsend. So as much as I would like to see funding for CBC greatly reduced, I think there should always be one outlet for people to call into as a connection to other Canadians. Matt Delaney from Wakefield, Quebec. I'd like to see more content aimed at introducing Canadians to each other

And the remarkable things people are doing in all corners of our country I read Extraordinary Canadians, thank you for reading that That was the book that Mark Bulgich and I wrote a couple of years ago We've got another one coming out next year It's not Extraordinary Canadians 2, but it is different And I will let coming out next year it's not extraordinary canadians too but it is different and i will let you know uh later what it's about i read extraordinary canadians and was left with a thought that we need more of this not only the traditional remarkable people who are doing extraordinary things on a national level but the people doing great things in their

smaller communities all over the country we need to celebrate all the remarkable things our neighbors and cross-country cousins are doing. And the CBC could help on that. Luke Petrolikas in Toronto. The most significant change that I would make for the CBC would be the elimination of television advertisements on the four main channels. Hallelujah. TV ads make up $333 million of this year's budget of the CBC annual report.

Funding that through federal taxes instead is possible. Yeah, maybe. Furthermore, the CBC should leverage corporate sponsorships like PBS does over ad breaks. Having, say, Robin Hood sponsor The Baking Show or Canada Post sponsor Dragon's Den makes sense.

Why don't we just start with getting ads off newscasts? That would be a great start. Right? Nor a large in Ottawa. CBC could use an event platform to partner with artists to present concerts, plays, and storytelling from venues large and small from all parts of Canada. For a fee, and then on the main website for all access. Interesting idea.

Don Dufour, also from Ottawa. I'm a CBC Gem premium subscriber and enjoy the streaming service with its various live offerings, docs and other shows. I understand the need for advertising as an integral part of the offering. However, it would be great if CBC could hire a technician who will stop playing the same ad back-to-back for three iterations at a go on a single commercial break.

All right. Let me just say this about that. Although this is not about me. There's no technician running those things. That's all computerized. And it's all computerized in terms of the number of times an ad has to run to meet the advertising obligations that the CBC has made with whoever that advertiser is.

But it's not some guy sitting in the back going, cue that tape up. Oh, cue it up again. Why don't we watch it a third time? That doesn't happen. Not anymore anyway. But I hear what you're saying And I share that opinion There's nothing worse than getting the

The same walk-in bathtub ad Over and over and over again In the same break Not that there's anything wrong With walk-in bathtubs Phillip Stiff From Winnipeg Not that there's anything wrong with walk-in bathtubs. Philip Stiff from Winnipeg. Whenever I see management of the CBC testify,

either in front of the CRTC or government, I'm always left with the sense that it's an organization that doesn't really want to be a public service broadcaster. The CBC wants to be NBC North, that is, a broadcaster largely operating on the American model of commercial broadcasting, albeit with a public subsidy, rather than uphold public service broadcasting norms such as a desire to serve audiences that advertising-supported programming wouldn't.

The CBC tends to chase ratings and largely adopts a mindset reminiscent of the commercial networks. Philip also mentions that when I was talking about the BBC the other day, that I suggested the BBC only serves English. However, this is not the case. One of the BBC's main channels is called BBC Alba, a Gaelic language service in Scotland. The BBC also offers its world service

in dozens of languages around the world. You're absolutely correct, Philip. I think what I said was it's mostly one language and it is mostly one language in one time zone. And I was trying to make the distinction between it and the challenges the CBC faces having to broadcast through a number of different time zones and many different languages,

and especially the two main ones for Canada, the two official languages. But you're quite correct. The Gaelic channel, Alba, is a service here in Scotland where I'm still at for a couple, a little, a few more days yet. And of course, the World Service.

That's a given. The BBC World Service, regarded highly around the world, comes off in many different languages. So you're quite correct about that. But I was mainly trying to address the domestic challenges that the BBC faced compared with the CBC on a number of fronts. But anyway, Philip, you're right.

Melanie Wambolt from Halifax. I'd like to see an hour show like The National to be aired in a time slot either right before or right after The National, but with a more international flavor covering world stories. Perhaps the nightly news lineup should be The Local, The National, The International. be the local, the national, the international. Yeah, that's an interesting idea. You could probably do that in a one-hour show,

a revamped one-hour show, where there were local inserts, right? Like local stations across the country would pop in and do their thing. But it's an interesting idea. David Hogan from Cobourg, Ontario. It's not just the CBC, but all evening broadcast. They feel the need to have two or three or more people do the evening newscasts, constantly going back and forth with different cameras.

Why do they feel this is an improvement? We've always been supportive of the CBC, our public broadcaster. Well, you know, different newscasts operate differently, and they're all trying to find what the right mix is to make their audiences happy. In terms of the major network newscasts for any news organization, I've always felt that one anchor is the way to go. But some people disagree with that. Although the record for multiple anchor network newscasts

in different parts of North America and the world. BBC don't – how am I going to word this? History shows that one anchor newscasts are the way to go and are the most successful. Multiple anchor newscasts don't usually go and are the most successful. Multiple anchor use gas don't usually work and are cratered and changed and remade within a short period of time.

I'll make no further comment on that. Ken Palashok. As a former card-carrying liberal from the gta that's toronto who's lived in rural ontario for the last 15 years my political views have softened some and i believe the cbc's coverage of issues such as the convoy of being biased and unfair to be clear i had no involvement with the convoy and don't entirely agree with their point of view. However, I know folks who were involved. The ones I know aren't Nazis. They aren't anti-science, yet it seemed like my beloved CBC was determined to make me think so.

I'm not sure that's fair. Did they talk about the neo-Nazis and others who were doing disgusting things during that convoy? Absolutely. But they also reflected others who were just ordinary guys and gals who felt strongly about the issue. Stephen McGaughy in Trenton, Ontario. I'm annoyed by the inferior language used by the CBC broadcasters. I think they should sound more professional. The constant use of cliches and turning nouns into verbs

by adding iffication or eyes to me displays a lack of vocabulary or assumes the audience doesn't have enough intelligence to understand the topic. And the last one on the CBC, well, the last couple on the CBC. Yeah, I've got three more here. Mike Rego in Avondale, Arizona. I'd separate Canadian program content development

and allow government funding of these and cap the budget for this at a much smaller number based on review of their current budget. This should provide both general interest items like documentaries and education material that schools, etc., can use. All other programs like comedies, drama, news, and the vast technology base would not be funded

and become a separate business, not affiliated in any way with the government. Well, nobody's affiliated with the government. It's with the Parliament of Canada that funds the CBC, not the government, not a political party. It's a common misconception and a common and constant criticism used at the CBC. Parliament funds the CBC.

It's part of the parliamentary mandate for national institutions. That's what happens for the CBC. It's part of the parliamentary mandate for national institutions. That's what happens for the CBC. Should it be relooked at? I'm all for that. Totally understand that. So some of what Mike's saying, I don't have a problem with. Chris Tardif from Aurora, Ontario. Get the rights for the NHL back.

Well, the NHL still plays on the CBC, right? It's there on Saturday nights. It's there through the playoffs. But the rights cost billions of dollars, and the CBC is not going to belly up to the bar with billions of your dollars to buy hockey, professional hockey. That's not going to belly up to the bar with billions of your dollars to buy hockey, professional hockey. That's not going to happen.

So now they get it for free, but they get nothing back for them in the sense of income, those ads. That all goes to the people who do own the rights, Rogers. but the CBC gets content which they're more than happy to run. Saves them money producing content. Right? Here's the last one. Erwin Correbo in Winnipeg.

I listen to CBC Radio daily and rarely ever watch CBC television or its news network. My primary source of news gathering is online with the CBC website and a variety of other sources. Podcasts such as yours serve to provide me with commentary and analysis on a universe of subjects of interest to me. I've long thought that we can live without CBC television. It's just one media source in a universe of hundreds of alternative stations and networks. On the other hand, CBC radio stands out in sharp contrast to the commercial radio world, excuse me, you got the hiccups, Which by all accounts is slowly dying due to the drastic decrease in advertising revenues.

Better that the limited resources available to the CBC can be focused on strengthening CBC Radio and its digital content. All right. There you go. I said there were a lot of comments and I just read a small reflection of the comments that have come in. There's lots of them. But that is not it for your turn. We've still got the random ranter to come, and we still have a fair chunk of your letters.

And we'll get right back to it right after this. And welcome back. You're listening to The Bridge on SiriusXM, channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. And this is the Thursday episode of The Bridge on Sirius XM, channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. And this is the Thursday episode of The Bridge, and that means your turn, and it means the random ranter. And the ranter is warming up in the bullpen. He's going to be with us in just a couple of moments. But let's start off this segment with some of your letters that have come in about

the convoy and the Emergencies Act inquiry that's been going on in Ottawa. Bill Archibald writes from Ennismore, Ontario. When our Prime Minister finally acted in response, he chose to overreact and set a dangerous precedent by invoking the Federal Emergencies Act without said emergency existing. It's according to Bill. The border issues had already been resolved, some of them, and the Ottawa situation was still a civic, not a national problem. That's debatable. By invoking the Federal Emergencies Act, the federal government,

led by Trudeau, apparently thought to resolve this action by invoking the most extreme solution for a non-extreme event. Jeff Sluze, or Slize, I'm not sure, Jeff, sorry, just how you pronounce that, your last name, but Jeff is in London, Ontario. I agree with Dougoug ford's decision to not attend the inquiry pertaining to the convoy it wasn't his fight and if i was him i'd be distancing myself from it i'm sure it'd be it will be determined after the inquiry that the unprecedented act of using the emergency act for a truck double parked on an ottawa street

will be considered an overreach by a very weak leader okay jeff come on a truck double parked there were hundreds of trucks came into ottawa dozens and dozens of them blockaded the downtown core. Some of their occupants harassed Ottawa citizens in a number of different ways, some of them brutal and sexist. It was a little more than a truck double parked. And when you say it wasn't his fight, referring to Doug Ford, well, if it wasn't his fight, why did he send the OPP there?

Want to answer that one? If it wasn't his fight, why did he send the OPP to make sure that there were no trucks around Queens Park? Successfully stopped them before they could do anything. We'll see where the Doug Ford story ends up. All right. Speaking of the commission inquiry, our friend the ranter wants to talk about that this week.

We got more of your letters, but first, here's the ranter. Have you heard the big news from the convoy hearings in Ottawa? Get this. Turns out there were multiple failures of intelligence. No kidding. Look, I'm no fan of Trudeau's leadership, and I'm sure there was plenty of incompetence at the federal level. But to me, it's the Conservatives that bear the brunt of the blame on this one. They played politics with the freedom clowns, and then they posted the pictures on Instagram to prove it.

While they were out rubbing elbows with the occupiers, businesses across the country and the people of Ottawa were being left hung out to dry. But it wasn't just the federal Conservatives. It was the inaction of the Conservative provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. They did nothing to deter or impede the convoy or the occupations. They played a coward's game by letting the situation escalate. They begged the Feds for action, and then they quickly condemned them for overreacting with

the Emergencies Act and they did it all in an attempt to maintain the support of the extreme right. With all the incompetence, gamesmanship and responsibility shirking, I'm amazed they got anything done in the end. In retrospect we should probably thank the Freedom Crowd for overstepping and blocking the Ambassador Bridge. Without the external pressure that created, Ottawa would probably still be occupied. Here's a thing I want to know. How much was the threat of the convoy discounted because it was largely a bunch of angry white people? You know those people. They're the ones that some conservatives see as their base.

Angry white people tend to leave the conservatives conflicted. I mean like a moth to a flame, conservative politicians can't resist cozying up to an angry crowd of white people. And I get that. They don't see angry white people. They see kindred spirits. So in that light, it's somewhat understandable. But at the same time, it's wholly unacceptable. We all know that if this was an indigenous convoy of semis moving to shut down international trade routes and the country's capital, it would never have passed go, and it

would have been the very same freedom crowd shouting the loudest for the Emergencies Act. There'd be no horns a-honking. It would be deafening chants of, CALL IN THE MILITARY! I'm tired of the politics, the hypocrites, and the games. We don't need an inquiry to tell us that we were failed by our elected officials, that we were failed by the leadership of our police forces, and that everyone involved failed to heed or even show intelligence. The Random Ranter for this week. Gee, I would be surprised if I don't hear from some of you on that one.

Moving on with other notes and letters and emails from you. Dana O'Neill has this to say. You talked about voter turnout the other day and and we did um in my household there i'm sorry let me get this right dana o'neill writes from jasper ontario you talked about voter turnout and how it was how low it was for me personally i don't care how many people vote. To me, if there was only a 25% turnout, I would much rather have 25% of the people that are at least somewhat informed or very informed voting than having 75% voter turnout

and 50% of them haven't got a clue who any of the candidates are and just go in there and check any box because they're afraid of getting a fine, which is one of the options here is trying to make it mandatory voting. Adrian Hill writes again. He writes a lot. I've given him two shots today, but that means he doesn't get on for the next 18 months.

So what can I say? Kidding. Adrian writes this because we mentioned on the podcast about the low voter turnout is that nobody covers the municipal elections anymore, and they don't. The major networks don't do that. But Adrian notes, Rogers Community Channel 22 had live Ottawa TV coverage with a dozen guests and hosts together with excellent graphics showing the updated results.

There you go. Phil Bowman of London, Ontario. I think this is the frustration of many people when it comes to COVID information. You had Dr. Lisa Barrett on your program about 10 days ago. Dr. Barrett's from Halifax and being one of our regulars and being terrific. She was saying that hospitalizations have not peaked, spiked yet in her area, and we don't expect as many people in hospital if there is another wave. And yet this article suggests that hospitalizations are higher this fall than any previous fall

during the pandemic, and adds one, but that's Canada as a whole. She was talking just about Halifax. Dr. Bogoch this week had a different view of what was happening in Toronto, as we know. I would tend to lean towards Dr. Parrott's opinion, though, as this article is in the CBC's second opinion section. I'm a regular CBC News reader. I realize that the information with COVID is ever-changing, but this is a pretty big flip in less than a week. Are messages like this possibly being used to scare people

into getting vaccinated? I don't think so. I think in different parts of the country there are different stats right now, but it's clear we're in a wave and it's going to affect different areas differently. Sherry Hertz in Toronto. She writes about municipal elections again. The turnout for the municipal elections in Ontario this week was very disappointing. More disappointing was the media coverage. I had to hunt high and low for results for areas across the province where I have an interest. TV, newspapers, websites were very

limited on results for the leaders that will most affect our daily lives. Clean water, waste management, housing, road maintenance, and the education of our children are worth more attention than they got. How can we expect people to take an interest and vote if the information on election night is so limited? Philip Leech and Go. Very interesting episode today. I think the analysis, this was the Brian Stewart one on Ukraine the other day.

I think the analysis of Ukraine is very helpful in the way that you do it on your podcast. I'd like to know two points of interest. When you discuss it, industrial scale wars since 1945, you did actually overlook the Iran Iraq war, which was certainly qualifying. And second, when you discuss the potential dam busting in Ukraine,

a useful point of comparison, other than the Netherlands during World War II, which you mentioned, would be the flooding of the Yellow River in 1938 that killed about 800,000 Chinese civilians. Karen Sean. In response to your podcast on municipal voting, there are several countries in the world, Italy, Singapore, Austria, and Brazil, as an example, where mandatory voting is compulsory and considered a civic or national duty.

In Australia, where Karen writes from, she's in Sydney, voting in federal and state elections is mandatory and punishable by a fine from the Australian electoral commission we also heard from Dallas McDougal who's in Brisbane Australia the worldwide reach of the bridge scanning the world for listeners, and reached Australia. So anyway, Dallas writes, this week when talking about voting in low turnout with Bruce, as I often do, I was comparing my experience with when I was in Canada.

I've always voted without complaint, but in Australia, it is mandatory to do so at every level. The fine for not voting is, I think, $20 the first time, $50 the second time, and I'm sure somewhere there's a jail with crocodiles and snakes for third-time offenders, but I can't be certain about that. Well, just the thought of it is enough to make sure I'd be running off to the polls.

Kathy Secord writes, I read in the CBC News this week that Anne Medina was inducted into the CBC News Hall of Fame. She was, and what a great choice. Interesting story about her many achievements, but what really resonated with me is Ms. Medina's speaking up about the importance of journalistic integrity, and more specifically, that she always strived to share what she had seen and what she knew, never what she felt. So why am I raising this? I hear too often Bruce saying on the podcast, I feel rather than giving the audience factual information. Personal feelings presented as majority opinion really lacks credibility kathy please keep in

mind what i said at the beginning of today's program i've said many times before this is not a newscast it's a podcast and podcasts give opinion commentators give opinion columnists like chantelle hibbert andrew Andrew McDougall, they give their opinion on this program. That's what it's about. Bruce gives his opinion. He's not a reporter. He's not a journalist. He's an analyst and

does so from his perspective of having worked in the political process for both the Conservatives and the Liberals over the years. Worked for prime ministers, cabinet ministers, you name it. Opposition leaders, done it all. A couple more.

Aaron Consor. I'm really enjoying the random ranter, and I'm enjoying how his arguments are challenging my own biases. But there was something in his arguments last week about defunding the police that really made me think. He argued that our politicians are to blame for not supporting preventative programs to help with poverty and crime, but really we're all to blame as a society. Our politicians are elected and support programs and initiatives based on the electorate's opinions and values.

Unfortunately for too long, we have all supported the punishment side of law enforcement and it really shows in the effects it's had on our society. Malcolm Campbell writes from Minnesota, Manitoba. In your discussion with Brian Stewart, the idea of propaganda surfaced and with it an implication that Russia is the sole perpetrator of the

ancient tactic. From the outset, this war has been framed as a somewhat spontaneous, unprovoked attack by a ruthless, bloodthirsty, evil megalomaniac. Very little context or historical markers in Western media to explain the conflict, but there is a heaping helping of North American propaganda to ensure how we,

as Western democratic citizens, should feel about it. That's true. But that's not to take anything away from the fact that it was an unprovoked attack by a ruthless, bloodthirsty, evil megalomaniac. Elizabeth Prosser from Bracebridge, Ontario, gets the last shot in your turn this week. The last email. The last comment.

And we've actually had a couple of these lately because I've got to tell you, I get a lot of letters like this. And you talk about the CBC, one of the things that many people have missed about the CBC, long of the things that many people have missed about the CBC, longtime listeners and viewers, they've missed Brian Stewart. It's been great to bring him back on a regular basis here on the bridge because he works at putting together his thoughts and the facts he gathers into a commentary each Tuesday. But here's what Elizabeth writes from Bracebridge, Ontario.

After listening to Tuesday's podcast with Brian, I just wanted to comment on the way he always makes the listener remember that the war in Ukraine, and any war for that matter, is ultimately about people. His words about Ukrainians returning home really moved me. 5.2 million citizens choosing to return home despite the fear and uncertainty they face shows such courage and patriotism.

Brian's vast knowledge about weapons, tactical advances and the internal workings of war are incredible. But he never ceases to remind us all that war is about displacement, suffering, and loss. As Canadians, we are reminded we have much to be grateful for. That's so true, Elizabeth. And it's such a great note to leave today's episode on tomorrow

it's good talk with Chantelle Hebert and Bruce Anderson lots to talk about as always as the week comes to a close thanks for all your notes and letters this week I love getting your emails, even the ones that trash me or trash us or trash booze. Nobody ever trashes Chantel. You notice that? She gets a pass.

And, you know, I guess she deserves that. But thank you for listening, always. We'll talk to you again in just a short 24 hours. Thank you.