The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn -- The Canadian From History You Want to Talk With

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

"Who is the Canadian from history you would like to have a long conversation with?" We've had so many replies we have enough for this week and next. 

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. Today the question is, which Canadian in history would you want to sit down and have a long conversation with? Your answers, welcome to Thursday. Thursday, of course, is your turn. Before we get started, just a thanks to those Canadians who are experts in restoring power and getting power lines back up and running. Those Canadians who have headed to Florida in the last 24 hours, given the story that's unfolding there as the results of Hurricane Milton, which has been bashing Florida for the last few hours and will continue to for the next few hours till it goes out the other side and out into the Atlantic but there is going to be a

lot a lot of work to be done in restoring Florida to its normal self. That could take weeks or months even. The damage is just being counted now. But those who have volunteered to go to Florida to help in terms of the restoration of especially power, millions without power this morning. All right, now to what we have at hand here today. without power this morning. All right, now to what we have at hand here today.

You're remarkable. You really are. The question of the week, you know, it's a good question, but the response has been overwhelming on a lot of fronts. The question of the week was, name a Canadian from history who you'd want to sit down with and talk to, have a long conversation with. So when we came up with that question, I thought, well, you know, there'll probably be quite a few answers,

but a lot of them will be the same. These kind of things tend to sort of come up with similar answers, but not the audience or the bridge. Oh, no. We've had dozens and dozens and dozens of responses to this question. And the beauty of these responses is, one, a lot of first-time writers love that every week when somebody writes in for the first time.

And we can tell whether it's a first-time writer or not. But the wide range of answers here is quite remarkable. People in some cases I've never heard of. And I like to think, you know, I've heard of everybody. Of course I haven't. But you'd like to think on a question that's kind of narrowed down to that, that these would be familiar names. Well, some of them obviously are. But many of them are not.

But they're worth hearing about. That's the beauty of this. So lots of responses. Lots of varied responses. Lots of first-time writers. So many that we're not going to get them all in on this show. And that's already the cut. You know, like some people aren't going to make it anyway.

But there's a lot who are going to make it here. So we'll fill this show up, so much so that we've given the random renter the week off. He kind of needed it anyway. His real job, as we've said before, takes him on the road a lot, and he's a very busy guy. But this week we've given him the week off

because we have so many answers. But we have so many answers to the question that we're going to extend it through into next week as well. We'll start today. We'll get as many in as we can. Don't assume if you're not on today and you wrote, that means you're never going to get on. You very well may be on next week.

This is not based on the quality of the answer. It's based on the fact that we have a lot of answers. So some will end up on next week's program. And we're going to extend the deadline a couple of days. A lot of people wrote after last night's deadline, which normally is enough to not allow you in.

But we're going to extend the deadline to Sunday night. That's it. That's all. No more. But if you have an answer to the question, what Canadian in history would you like to sit down and have a long conversation with? Write to the Mansbridge podcast at gmail.com.

Include your name, the location you're writing from, and keep it short. You know, it doesn't matter how many times I say that. Some people write and say, well, you know, I really need extra time. Well, then you get chopped. You get edited or you get tossed. So keep that in mind.

Okay, let's get started. Ben Hendrickson from Yellowknife. Ben writes, the quote-unquote Canadian I would want to talk to is Tecumseh. Of course, I would be stunned if he would consider himself Canadian at all. I grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario, so my history lessons were full of stories about the War of 1812, Isaac Brock, and the legends of British and Indigenous alliances. Tecumseh is a legend in his own right, having built a confederacy to maintain indigenous independence that collapsed after he was killed at the Battle of the Thames. Our modern history is still shaped in so many ways by what

could have been. Tecumseh seems like the kind of person that would hold many hints as to how modern Canada and Crown-Indigenous relations could have been very different over the last two centuries. Great letter, Ben. Staying north for a bit, Mark Nelson in Whitehorse, Yukon. If I could, I'd want to have a long talk with the Indigenous leaders who participated in the early treaty negotiations with the Crown, people like Big Bear. Big Bear, by the way, signed Treaty 6 in 1882 after years of resisting it. It covers parts of what is now Alberta and Saskatchewan. And Kinaseo, he signed Treaty 8 in 1899,

covering parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., and the Northwest Territories. I'd want to know how they saw those treaties, what they hoped their crown partners would do, and if they had any inkling of what was to come. I wonder if they felt hopeful or just cornered. There were quite a few suggestions that involved Indigenous leaders, certainly Indigenous issues. Ken Pellishock, regular writer from Newstead, Ontario.

I'd like to talk to a leader from the First Nations community a little before the first of the European settlers arrived. I'd absorb as much as I could about the stories, the legends, the lore from the good folks of Turtle Island and preserve it all in a big book. You've got to listen to those stories. If you can't get back to talk to one of them, there are so many Indigenous stories that have been handed down through the generations that we should listen to.

Paula Gratton from Miramichi, New Brunswick. I'd sit down with Prime Minister John A. MacDonald. I want to pick the brain of the man who started residential schools. I want to hear him explain his fears of hatred, whatever the deep-seated reason was. Then I'd want to tell him how wrong he was. I tell him that as a meager white person, I'm enraged, but that my rage doesn't even begin to touch that of indigenous people. I would just want him to know that he caused absolutely unnecessary and unacceptable upheaval in multiple generations of beautiful people.

You know, some of you know I'm in Scotland right now, here for a couple more weeks before I head back home. And it just so happens that the place I'm in is, I don't know, 20 minutes away from the John A. McDonald kind of family home, the one his grandparents grew up in. It's near a little place called Rogart in Scotland. It's inland. It's away from the sea.

But it's apparently a place where John A., the toddler, ran around. There were a number of letters, as you'll see, about John A. MacDonald and the issue of residential schools. Including Shannon Bradley-Green from Cochrane, Alberta, who put her request for a sit-down with Sir John A. in the form of a letter to him. Dear Sir John A. in the form of a letter to him. Dear Sir John A., Congratulations, dear Sir, on the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway Project. I am pleased to know we are now linked from the Eastern Ocean to the Western One,

and by you having done this, I feel as you do that we will be able to continue to keep the rascally Yankees south of the 49th. However, as a Canadian alive in 2024, I do have a burning question that I must ask. How much deep considered thought did you actually put into the Indian problem? I would consider it a privilege to spend some time discussing the matter with you. Linda Keith in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

She wants to sit down with another MacDonald, Sir John A. MacDonald's wife. How she contributed to her husband's career, her view as a woman on the times she lived in, how she viewed slavery, the indigenous people, her husband's alcoholism, how she managed in clearly tumultuous times. I should say that Sir John actually had two wives. He married Isabella in 1843.

She died in 1857 at the age of 48. We presume Linda is more interested in speaking with wife number two, Agnes, who was married to Sir John in February of 1867 and so lived with him through all his years as prime minister. Sir John died in 1891. Agnes lived until 1920. She was 84 when she died. And then this from Alex

Kerr in Mono, Ontario. That's about an hour north of Toronto, northwest I guess of Toronto. I would like to have a conversation with John A. Not Sir John A. MacDonald, but John Amigwalek, known as John A.

And also the father of Nunavut. Mr. Amigwalek played a central role in the creation of the new territory of Nunavut, Mr. Amigolic played a central role in the creation of the new territory of Nunavut in 1999, a territory that covers a land mass one-third the size of Canada and offers a unique public government to all residents, one that reflects the self-government aspirations of Inuit. Because of the unique role he played in the constitutional development

of this country and his inspiring vision of self-determination, dignity, and prosperity, I'd love to have an in-depth conversation with him. You know, I never had an in-depth conversation with John or Taggart Curley, another father of the Nunavut. But I used to see them all the time. Back in the 60s when I was working at Transair, a little airline based in Churchill, Manitoba.

And John and Taggart used to take those flights all the time, back and forth up to, you know, like Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake and various other communities in what was then the Central Arctic. What's now part of Nunavut. But that's a great one, too. Kyle Crossman in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Right? The reach is the worldwide reach of the bridge.

Kyle writes, A tough question, and I'd answer this a hundred different ways if you asked me a hundred different times, but this time I answer, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. To be privy to a lot of interesting times in our history, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and few years after that during the UN formation would be fascinating.

He seemed like a bit of a different duck. No kidding. So to hear it from his point of view would be intriguing to me. Gareth Wilson in Bowmanville, Ontario, he's another regular writer. But that doesn't give you special rights. Like he seemed to think this week, he wrote a very long note because he said the subject is personal for him. And he apologized for its length.

Well, apology accepted. We're still going to slash and burn your letter down. Here's what he writes. Being a type 1 diabetic for over 37 years, my long conversation would be with Dr. Frederick Banting, the inventor of insulin therapy, along with Charles Best, James Collip, and John McLeod. In 1923, he and his colleagues chose to gift the patent for a single dollar. Banting said, insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world, of which he himself, as a physician, chose not to accept. Because of their decision, I have had the pleasure of experiencing love, Garth went on to explain that private health insurance companies can deny payment for the insulin prescribed by your doctor

in favor of a less expensive version of insulin. I can read all the details he goes through, but he concludes this way. I'm quite sure that Dr. Banting would never have imagined a day where million-dollar insurance companies and billion-dollar drug companies would be battling to protect profits off the backs of patients. His selfless act was the gift for medical equity. We can do much better, and we must. Hear, hear.

And we also got a vote for a conversation with Banting's partner from our devoted Fanny Bay, British Columbia resident, Marilyn Wallace. Marilyn writes, as an undergraduate student, Charles Best was not allowed to receive the Nobel Prize that was awarded to Banting in 1923. I wish I could ask Best to tell me the history of their partnership, including the scientific journey that led them to insulin. I'd like to know how he felt about being denied the prestigious Nobel Prize. I would also ask him if he ever regretted selling their patent for such

a paltry sum, once he realized how lucrative their important drug was to the companies who would make billions of dollars on their discovery. And then I would finish by speaking on behalf of the millions of people whose lives would ultimately be saved by saying, thank you. Remember John Demers? John's a truck driver. He travels across the country. I forget, but I think he's from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.

He's from the East Coast, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, that doesn't matter. John, this week, is on the road around Detroit, Michigan. As he says, I'm always in transit somewhere in the lower 48 states. Pierre Trudeau is the guy I'd have lunch with, says John, to get his take on the current political climate, not to mention what advice he'd offer his son.

Bobby Singh of Edmonton. I would have that long-distance dialogue with Pierre Elliott Trudeau because the balance of charm, higher education, and the circles of power he walked in, and we would chat while we paddled along river. He loved to paddle, I hear. Oh, he certainly did. He certainly did.

If you ever get to the Peterborough area in Ontario, southeastern Ontario, that's where the Canoe Museum is. I'm a patron of the Canadian Canoe Museum. It's a fantastic place. And there's some great pictures in there of Pierre Trudeau paddling. Donald Mitchell in Ottawa. He's originally from Killarney, Manitoba. Simon Fraser, Alexander McKenzie, or David Thompson.

Just to hear their stories of making maps and how they did it. Christine McDonald in LaSalle, Ontario. Wilford Laurier. Was his vision for Canada met? Remember, he's the one who said the 20th century would belong to Canada. Don't think so. Maybe the 21st?

Christine says, what would he make of where we are now? Pride or disappointment? And why? where we are now, pride or disappointment, and why. Patrick Chung of Toronto. I'd like the chance to speak to Terry Fox. This is my second year of long-distance running, and I want to ask him how he endured the pain and hardship during his run for cancer research. His total distance was 5,373 kilometers on one healthy leg.

I was one of the lucky ones that had a chance in 1988 to see his mom when she visited Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto. I didn't understand a whole lot of English, but my ESL teacher gave us a background story of his battle and his heroic run across Canada. What an amazing human being. We need someone like him now more than ever. He's a pretty remarkable young man.

Well, actually on that thought, on Terry Fox, I remember my office at the time in 1988 with the CBC, it was right across the street from Jarvis Collegiate, the CBC building on Jarvis. I remember that day when Terry Fox's mom went to visit Jarvis Collegiate. So a nice reflection and remembrance of that moment from Patrick Chung in Toronto, who was an English as second language student at Jarvis at that time, ESL. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll have more of your letters, lots more of your letters addressing this question of if there was a Canadian from history that you'd want to sit down with

for a long conversation, who would that be and why? Back right after this. and welcome back you're listening to this thursday episode of the bridge and it is of course your turn your letter is addressing this uh this question of who's the canadian history you'd want to have a long conversation with. Lots of letters, so many so that we're going to stretch this into two weeks. It won't be hard, given the letters you've written. And the letters that are still to come, and I'll give you that address again later in the program. You're listening on Sirius XM, channel 167, Canada Talks,

or on your favorite podcast platform. Glad to have you with us on this Thursday. Okay, let's get back to letters. Michael Patch from Victoria, BC. If I could have a conversation with anyone from Canadian history, it would be Marshall McLuhan. Let's assume an information update. So he'd be au courant about the modern era and then ask him for his take on the state of media

and its continuing impact on society. That's a TED talk I'd like to hear. No kidding. We'd all line up for that one. Kind of a similar answer from Jared Lanius in Edmonton. My answer, Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan would probably have colorful and surprising things to say about society, human nature, artificial intelligence, politics, and how the media will evolve as the 21st century progresses.

Roman Fisher in Sydney, Nova Scotia. If I can have a long conversation with a great Canadian from our history, I would choose Joseph Howe. Given the state of news media in Canada, I think it would be interesting to hear his perspective on how journalism could, in some format, be revived to its former glory and serve its important role more effectively. He did, after all, win his 1835 libel case, which was a landmark decision for freedom of the press in Canada. Having also served as a pre-Confederation Premier of Nova Scotia, Speaker of the Nova Scotia House

of Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, and as an MP in the first Canadian Parliament, the perspectives he could bring to a conversation about Canada's beginnings in Confederation would be unmatched. I should note that Howe was staunchly against Confederation. As Premier, he led Nova Scotia in 1848 to achieve the first instance of responsible government within the British Empire outside of the UK. A remarkable feat. Tom McCaffery in Calgary. I'd like to talk to anyone who lost their child to a residential school. I imagine no one was listening, and Lord knows the grief that needed to be shared. I'd also like to talk with any deputy minister that advised against the 60s sweep,

assuming there was even one. Callum Arnold in Ottawa. I would have a long conversation with my uncle, Corporal Glenn Arnold,, and Corporal Keith Morley, who served with 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. According to a report from the New York Times, 14 other people were killed, and over 60 were injured as a result of the bombing. I was only 6 years old when Glenn passed away, and my memories of him are bright but hazy. What I know about Glenn comes from conversations with my grandmother,

my father, my uncles, and my aunt, who knew him better and for longer. Given even one afternoon of conversation with Glenn, I could ask him about why he wanted to enlist, what he thinks of the contemporary situation in Afghanistan. May he rest in peace, and I thank him for his service. Yes, lest we forget. There were almost 160 Canadians who died during the war in Afghanistan. An opportunity to talk with them about what was actually accomplished there. Seeing as that country is back in the hands of the people we fought to liberate it from. Owen Waite in Newmarket, Ontario.

Here's a real change in tone. Owen in Newmarket writes, My choice for a long talk with an historic Canadian would be Stompen Tom Connors. It would be a fun conversation, and being a musician myself, I would love to hear stories from venues he played and the people he met from across this great country. An old colleague of ours, Jen Clibben in Toronto.

We worked together at the CBC. Jen's suggestion, Susanna Moody, author of Roughing It in the Bush. Her description of sailing into Quebec City as a new immigrant is breathtaking. What did she feel? What did she see? What did she hear in those first days after stepping off the ship from England in the 1820s? I had an ancestor, Jesse, who sailed alone from the slums of Glasgow and disembarked in Quebec City in the 1820s. I had an ancestor, Jessie, who sailed alone from the slums of Glasgow and disembarked in Quebec City in the 1830s.

She was alone and the first of her family to take the leap to the new world. Yeah, I find it amazing. You know, as I said earlier, I'm here in Scotland right now, and along the shore of the North Sea, where a lot of future Canadians left as a result of the clearances in Scotland. They left from the northeast coast. They rounded the Orkneys and went across the Atlantic on horrific voyages

that took them to the New World. Many went to Canada. And I look out at the North Sea every day and I wonder just what they must have thought as that voyage began. Bill Flowers in Amherst, Nova Scotia writes, if I could sit and have a conversation with any Canadian,

I think it would be Stan Rogers. Stan had such an incredible connection to the heartbeat of this country. In his short life, he created beautiful art that reflected Canadians like the farmer, the fisherman, the oil worker, and the Canadian North. I'll say. The Northwest Passage. Rest in peace, Stan. Your art will live forever, and that it will.

Yes, Stan Rogers did indeed have a far too short life. He died at the age of 33 in a fire aboard an Air Canada flight, flying from Dallas to Toronto in 1983. The plane did make a miraculous emergency landing in Cincinnati on fire. But some people had already died of smoke inhalation. Eric Peterson.

Eric, I forgot to tell us where you were writing from. Having spent many evenings over 50 years by a campfire while traversing northwest Canada by canoe and by trail, I'd love to sit with Albert Fail and R.M. Patterson on the shore of the Nahanni River. And listen to them. Once I read The Dangerous River, there was no going back. These were the kind of men who inspired me to take off into the wilderness

when I was young and find my own trail and paddle my own canoe. Now I'm old, but memories of glorious adventures and old campfires will always be there when I close my eyes. Now, if you don't recognize those names, Patterson wrote The Dangerous River,

recounting his adventures on the Nahanni during the years 1927 to 1929. Albert Tfail, and I'm sure I'm pronouncing that wrong, Tfail, was an accomplished canoeist and solitary trapper. It was a character Patterson wrote about in the book, and because of the book, Tfail became the central subject of the 1962 National Film Board documentary, Nahanni.

Jamie Rothenberger in Calgary. Lucy Maud Montgomery instantly came to mind. Canada's Jane Austen, author of Anna Green Gables and 19 other novels. Perhaps underappreciated at home, but loved the world over, I'd specifically like to ask her about her creative process. How did she execute and perfect her writing craft? More broadly, what was it like to bear witness to important historical events? She lived through the inclusion of the Prairie Provinces into Confederation,

two world wars, the Spanish influenza pandemic, women gaining the right to vote, and the famous five-persons case. And I wonder how she would react if I told her my eldest is named Gilbert. Do you get that? There's a golf course in Prince Edward Island. There are actually quite a few golf courses, great courses in Prince Edward Island. One of them is the Green Gables course.

And it's called Green Gables because it's one of the homes on one of the fairways. Well, beside one of the fairways is, well, beside one of the fairways, was where Lucy Mon Montgomery lived, supposedly. I know it because when I was driving on that hole, it was as if the house was on the fairway because i hit it not good daryl joe hansen in north battleford north saskatchewan isn't north battleford the one that's right on the border with alberta

i go one side of the street at saskatchewan the other side it's alberta am i mixing it up it's not the right? Why do we not hold our politicians, who are supposed to be honourable public servants, accountable for their actions? Liberals and Trudeau go from scandal to scandal, break ethics laws and mislead and lie continuously

for their political gain and not for the good of Canadians. And giving in to demands of the Bloc and the NDP to hold power while not working to improve Canada. Actually, you do know that the Liberals have not gone along with the Bloc, at least so far, on the demand to increase pensions, old age pensions. Anyway, what Mike says is, or sorry, what Daryl says is,

I'd like to sit down with John Diefenbaker and get his opinion on how to fix things. While he was never shy about giving opinions, old Dief the Chief, Mike Ramsey in Rossland, B.C., I'd like to talk with John Diefenbaker about the Avril cancellation, but on a more serious note, I would rather be a listener to a discussion

between Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau on their 2024 perspective on Canada, the U.S. election, the EU, and Brexit. However, after firm guidance from the headmaster, that's me three canadians you're mentioning not one ramsey so if it was just one i would have to be pick pierre elliott trudeau who skied skied here at red mountain many times in a blue one-piece suit and no security detail those Those were the days, right?

No security detail. Now they've got, what, a dozen cars following whoever's prime minister? It's funny, eh? You watch the Americans. They've got 100 vehicles following the president of the United States. We have at least 10 or 12, no matter who the Prime Minister is. And yet in Britain, you watch the British Prime Minister head over to Buckingham Palace to meet with the monarch. They take the helicopter shot.

There's one car following the PM's car. One. Not 10, not 20, not 50, not 100. One. Scott Culbert in Grandview Heights, Ohio. That's just outside the state capital of Columbus. We love to hear from our American listeners. Scott says, I'm not sure Scott's

American. Maybe he's Canadian living in Grandview Heights. Anyway, he writes, my answer is easy. David Colbert, my great, great, great grandfather, he and his family came from Belfast and settled in Lindsay, Ontario in 1833. David Colbert became Commissioner of the Queen's Bench, Commissioner of the Court of Requests, Justice of the Peace, and Postmaster of Lindsay. He died on Good Friday in 1856. His son, Elijah, moved to the United States to join the Civil War. He was captured by the Confederates and left to die in prison. He survived and went home to Ohio, where he died an old man,

in 1902 at the age of 80 or 81. This is our research. What happened here? Okay, I'm missing the... Oh, no, I see what it means. My people. Got it. Thanks, Scott.

How are we doing on time? We had a few minutes left here, yeah? James Gogan in Toronto. I just finished watching The Terror, a horror historical fiction show based on a book by the author Dan Simmons about the Franklin Expedition. It's a great series. Now, you know, if you've listened to this program before, I'm a big Franklin Expedition buff.

Being up there, search for the Franklin, found relics, done it all. Been there, done that. Love this film. Like, it's fiction. But it's, you know, the mystery about the Franklin Expedition is what happened. Why'd they all die? Certain facts are known about the Franklin Expedition, and the series follows them until the point at which we don't know what happened.

Then they make it up, and it's pretty good. Anyway, James writes, it's got me interested in what really happened during that expedition, so I'd like to talk to Francis Crozier, who was the captain of the Terror, the ship, the Terror, the Erebus and the Terror, remember, to find out what went wrong with the expedition. Crozier and Franklin did not get along. Okay, let's keep moving here.

Ryan LaVilla in Thunder Bay. A Canadian in history I'd love to have a long conversation with is Norman Jewison, the renowned filmmaker best known for directing acclaimed films such as Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Moonstruck, and In the Heat of the Night. The latter of which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. My wife was in Moonstruck, you know. That's beside the point. Jewison also founded the Canadian Film Centre, fostering new talent and supporting the growth of the Canadian film industry. I'd love to pick his brain about the current state of Canadian cinema,

where he sees it going, and his commitment to social issues that are brought to light in much of his work, often tackling themes of race, love and justice. Norman Jewison is a pioneer in both Canadian and international cinema. You know, he certainly was. He passed away, well, it was just earlier this year, January, wasn't it, of this year. He was 97.

Don Dufour writes this. If I could talk to one Canadian from history, it would be Bobby Orr. In my opinion, one of the top five players of all time. I'd love to sit down with him to talk about the game today and how it's changed since the days when I used to watch him play at the old Maple Leaf Gardens. In particular, I'd be interested in his opinion of the top player in the league today and his reasons why. Let me say a few things about Bobby because Bobby's a friend of mine.

We talk every once in a while. He's either in Boston or in Florida. He has homes in both. He actually lives just outside of Boston now, just moved in the last year. I wouldn't agree with you about him being one of the top five players. I would say he was the top player ever to play the game. Just look at his statistics over a relatively short career.

Now, there's some controversy around Bobby because he supports Donald Trump. So you can imagine if you've listened to me over time, we don't agree on that subject. We have some pretty boisterous discussions about that. However, when it comes to hockey, when it comes to caring about your friends, I've never seen anybody like this guy. He's amazing.

Just amazing. Never forgets his friends. Always checking up on them. As I said, we talk every year. He phoned me here in Scotland just, I don't know, a month ago. We had a great talk. He's had some challenges over the, you know, what happened to his knee. That's why he had to end up retiring so early from hockey.

You know, I sit there in the summer with him and he's wearing shorts and it doesn't even look like a knee. There's been so many operations on it. And he still keeps having operations on his knee. And he's had hip surgery and shoulder surgery and back surgery. I mean, he's had a lot. But he's still this fantastic guy. Loves to laugh, loves to tell stories,

loves to tell stories about the old days of hockey. We used to go every summer up to his hometown, Parry Sound, for a golf tournament. And he'd tell great stories. But he'd ensure that his buddies, you know, a lot of the guys from the old days, players from the old days, we'd sit in the parking lot outside of whatever the Motel 6 or whatever it was called in Parry Sound.

We'd sit in the parking lot in the middle of the night telling stories. And, man, I would pay to be sitting there with him just to listen. Anyway, he was remarkable in those days and still is now, and a great friend. So, you know, I echo your thoughts there, Don. I think you would have a fabulous time if you ever had the opportunity to say hello to him and talk about the old days.

And he comes up to Toronto every once in a while. We were at a game at the Gardens. Was it last year? I can't remember. Anyway, we got in an argument about Donald Trump. Anyway, there you go. I think we'll wrap it up for this week. As I said, I got lots more, lots more. And so we'll stretch this into next week's, your turn as well.

These have been terrific. It's so great to hear the things you have to say about the Canadian in history you'd love to sit down and talk to and what you'd want to talk to them about and why. And thank you so many new writers this week. So many more to come. So as I said, if you want to add your thoughts to this ever-growing list here, send them along to themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com, themansbridgepodcast at gmail.com. Include your name, the location you're writing from And keep it short And we'll make next week

All about it Thanks to the random ranter for taking the week off So we would squeeze in a few more letters The ranter will be back Next week I hope He's been a busy guy As always And tomorrow

It's good talk Chantel and Bruce will be here We'll deal with the issues of the week As always And tomorrow it's Good Talk Chantel and Bruce will be here We'll deal with the issues of the week And national politics And there are lots of them And rumors swirling around the capital Again this morning About what's going to happen in the days ahead

We'll talk about all of that tomorrow On Good Talk I'm Peter Mansbridge Thanks so much for listening We'll talk to you again in about 24 hours.