The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn -- You Are Anxious To Talk About Ukraine

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

Our weekly chance for you to voice your thoughts and you are not shy about the situation in Ukraine, anxiety at the dropping of restrictions on COVID, and more.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday, it's your turn, your thoughts, comments, ideas. I'm ready for them. And from Stratford, Ontario, it's Peter Mansbridge on the Thursday episode of The Bridge. And I always look forward to Thursdays because I like to hear what you have to say, good or bad, and there's always a mix of both in terms of what you've heard on the program,

what you're thinking, what you're thinking we should be doing, should be talking about. Look forward to it. And always have, you know, the your turn aspect of any broadcaster news organization is a good thing and something that we should embrace, all of us. Because giving the opportunity for others to speak their mind is something you know we should always do within reason and i've got to say that uh in all the different incarnations of broadcasting that i've been involved with going back to my initial days up in Churchill, Manitoba, there's always been some space afforded to listeners, viewers, readers

who want to say something about the things we're covering, and we should make sure that we reflect that on our programs. You know, sometimes it's hard. You know, when we started this podcast a couple of years ago now, it was started off, you know, it's basically a hobby. It's always been that, a hobby podcast.

But at the beginning, there were not a lot of listeners. It was just a few people. And getting people to react was even harder. It reminded me of my initial days at CHFC in Fort Churchill, Manitoba, part of the CBC Northern Service. When I got the management to agree to doing an open line show, this was 1968, and it had never been done before in Churchill.

And it was a big thing in southern Canada at the time, and so we wanted to try to do something to reflect that we were kind of hip and with it. And on the first day of the program, it ran from 8.30 to 9 in the morning. And we called it, I've mentioned this before, but I know we got a lot of new listeners. And perhaps some who haven't read my book or books. Anyway, you know, we called it Words with Peter Mansbridge. And the whole idea was, you know, call in and we'll talk. First day, nobody called.

Not a single soul called from Churchill. Small community, you know, about a thousand people, 1,200 at the time. Nobody called. And I think partly nobody called because everybody knew everybody else's voice. They wanted a degree of anonymity when they called in to whine or moan about something.

So by the second day, we were calling it Words and Music with Peter Mansbridge because I couldn't talk endlessly. And therefore, we threw in the odd piece of music. But eventually, the program grew and became very popular popular just as we've accomplished with the bridge. But listen, call it what you want, talk radio or open line shows or your turn. The idea is simple. We want to hear from you. We want to hear your thoughts. And some of the

successful ones, you know, obviously Ian Hanneman from CBC in Vancouver and one of the hosts on The National. He does cross-country checkup, which has a deep, deep history on the CBC in Canada every Sunday afternoon. And it reflects thoughts and ideas of comments of people across the country and that's

great and Ian embraces it loves it encourages people not only to call but to you know express their views um you know John Moore in Toronto does a bit of that Ryan Jesperson in Alberta these are all friends of mine All people who I've got to know over time And have a lot of respect for And they have a lot of respect for their Listeners, viewers Readers, as I've said

And so good for them It's just like, you know, letters to the editor in newspapers Alright, so that's why we do Thursday, and that's why we enjoy doing Thursday. And every week, as I've mentioned, I think, a couple of times in the last little while, I get a lot of emails, a couple of hundred, on average each week.

And they reflect a gamut of opinion. And I, you know, I pick some of them. I read them all as they come in. I pick some of them to highlight on the program. As much as I ask people not to write long letters, pretty much everybody does. Not everybody, but pretty much everybody. So what I do then is I select a paragraph

or even just a couple of sentences out of each one. So let's get going here. They're in no particular order. The first chunk, though, are about the Ukrainian war. And then we do a little COVID. Then we do a little, you know, kind of a potpourri, if you wish.

So let's get started. Bill Morrissey from New Market, Ontario. And this is all about Ukraine. At this point, it appears that Putin may not win this war. If so, it won't be the only instance of a superpower not being successful in an armed attack on a seemingly far less equipped foe. However, in all such instances, it lasted many months or years before the superpower realized it was futile to continue the aggression, perhaps based mostly on the pride of the leader. I have this question that i hope you and or your

guests can ponder does that suggest that we are likely in for a very long protracted battle and loss of life before putin decides to withdraw or is overthrown by his own people or system good question bill everybody's trying to answer that one right now i saw joe biden the president of the united states warning his people yesterday this could we could be in for a long time and he certainly knows more than than i do he certainly has the the intelligence forces on his side who are providing him with information. I tend to disagree and have for the last few days.

I think this thing is close to over because Putin and Russia are taking such a beating on the communications front and the Ukrainians, in spite of the fact they are being hammered on a daily basis, are winning the communications war. Of that there is no doubt. And I sense that with Russia losing soldiers, and not necessarily losing ground, but losing the war of words and communications,

that they're looking for an exit ramp and it is going to take the powers that be from the u.s and the european countries and china to provide him with that exit ramp so we'll see what happens in the next few days or weeks I'm you know maybe it's just hope but there certainly is some hope on my part that this thing is not gonna last a long time it's already lasted far too long already three weeks Steve Cody from Victoria. I find myself feeling as most do frustrated, angry, sad, horrified as I watch the slow and certain destruction of a once vibrant and proud country who never deserved any of this.

It's very hard to put a positive spin on this, and I apologize for sounding so bleak, but every time I turn on the news and let the chaotic images sink into my consciousness I'm reminded of a family standing by and watching a loved one slowly withering away and dying from terminal cancer. It's a hopeless empty feeling that boils my blood as I feel utterly powerless to do anything about this. I've donated to the Red Cross and hopefully that does some good and adds to the overall financial aid that will be needed for years to come, I'm sure.

Like a schoolyard bully that constantly terrorizes everyone on the playground at recess, punching, kicking, and uttering abuses at the other kids. Once all other avenues have been exhausted in dealing with this bully and it still carries on, the kids in the schoolyard need to take a stand and take the bully down no matter how ugly it gets, because it won't stop. I ask, what would the red line be if bombing a maternity hospital and starving out innocent women, children, seniors, disabled, and even pets on a daily basis isn't enough. Would the Russian army need to be seen shooting children in the streets to evoke action?

Alas, I fear that even that wouldn't be enough. Steve, I hear your frustration, and I think it's shared by a lot of people, that it seems that nothing the Russians do can force those who are against Russia, which is pretty well everybody right now, cannot find a way to stop this. I think everyone is frustrated by that. And that's why I truly believe that there's a lot going on in the background right now on a diplomatic way of trying to end it. We'll see if I'm right.

I'm not, you know, perhaps I'm just hoping against hope here. Dennis O'Sullivan. Let's see where Dennis is from from mississauga ontario first of all he's one of a a group now that's happened over the last couple of weeks who were thanking us greatly for brian stewart's kind of behind the scenes reporting that we do on tuesdays veteran foreign correspondent, his sense of not only how things are going, but why certain things are happening in this conflict on a daily basis. All right, Dennis writes,

like the actions of a spurned psychopathic lover who decides to imprison the object of his affection and beat them until they come around to accept him. That's Putin. If some think the description as a psychopath is too strong, let us all remember the sizable evidence pointing to Putin's direction over many years in having political opponents murdered. However this war in Ukraine may turn out, Volodymyr Zelensky has an assured place in the history of Ukraine as a hero. The hearts of the Ukrainian people, likely even those many of Russian descent, will come to revere his actions and despise those of Russia for generations

to come. Ed Poletsny, and I'm not sure I got that pronounced right, but Ed is from Lakeville, Ontario. As the world population approaches 10 billion, there is increasing competition, in some cases wars, for finite resource. We are also witnessing rapid climate change impacts from greenhouse gases that come from our use of oil and gas, causing extensive flooding, forest fires, and drought that threaten our life on earth. The COVID pandemic has proven that the global community can make rapid changes to reduce our dependence on air travel, daily commuting,

and overall oil and gas consumption. We could also make greater gains in reducing oil and gas consumption by banning plastic packaging, plastic toys, and many other disposable products that are so abundant in our landfill sites. I cannot imagine how much oil is wasted sending rockets into space in the space wars and the recent space tourism for the very wealthy. Reducing this needless waste of oil and gas would free up precious world oil supplies to support farming and putting food on the table for our growing population. So my question, why don't we create more disincentives to reduce the indiscriminate waste of oil and gas, allocate use of this finite resource to the highest priorities that benefit society, like farming and food supply, and make a rapid shift to renewable energy. It's a good question, Ed, one we can all be thinking about.

Leanne Blanford in Calgary. Is Donald Trump and his family considered a Russian oligarch? Do you know if he has been sanctioned by Canada, the U.S., or any other country which is supporting Ukraine through sanctions? I haven't heard anyone talk about this. Just curious, although it would be nice to shut him up. Well, I don't think Trump is considered an oligarch, but you might reasonably ask the question, has he benefited from the wealth of oligarchs?

You know, there's one example that's often brought up and has been brought up in the last few days. Trump owned a property in Florida, beachside property, which he couldn't unload a few years ago. I can't remember the actual numbers, but there was something like this. He'd paid $40 million for this property. Couldn't sell it. And then out of nowhere came a Russian oligarch who gave him $100 million for that property. How's that look? Anyway, interesting question. Here's Anastasia Sparling from Grey Highlands, Ontario.

I like this. To save lives, the Pope could fly to Kiev. Would Putin dare attack the Pope? I'll leave that one with you. Connor Whalen writes, and where's connor not sure where connor is love it when you tell me where you're from when you're writing um let's see what's connor got all about one? One of the big reasons Hillary Clinton lost was her deplorables comment. The belittling of people who vote for Trump and the overgeneralizations of all of them as either deplorables or numbskulls only serves to harden their support. One side of the spectrum writes off huge swaths because they think differently or have different reasoning. There needs to be some

self-reflection on the left if we were to avoid this American-style politics. We need to ask the question, why do people support them? Is there something we are doing that pushes them further right? We're slipping further into the us versus them thinking where we are othering people who think differently than us. Somehow that makes us feel better about ourselves and allows us to think we don't need to engage because we're better people. From that can only come further division and the rise of the likes of Maxime Bernier. I know this sounds like I'm blaming only one side, but I blame the other for lots as well. As a lifelong liberal voter, I feel this lack of

self-reflection by those I have voted for will be a major factor in the downfall of our political discourse. All right, Connor. How am I going to respond to this? After the 2016 election, there was a lot of people who thought exactly this way. Why did they vote the way they did? What is it about their feelings that we're missing in our reportage? And I think a lot of news organizations, not all of them, but a lot of them went to the trouble of trying to answer that question. Are we slipping back into the same mode now perhaps in this country after the whole truckers thing

i don't know i there's a fine line here somewhere between you know understanding what connor's saying and not ignoring the fact that when you see something you think is wrong, that you speak out about it. Or that's misinformed or ill-informed or simply spurting lies, that you call it out for what it is. But as I said, there is a fine line there. All right, here is a letter from Zoya Delvarani, and this takes a little bit of explanation.

Zoya lives in Los Angeles right now, but she clearly spent a lot of time in Canada and loves Canada. She was born in Iran, grew up in Iran, moved to Canada in 1990. Ended up, for business reasons, moving to Los Angeles. But has a couple of daughters. Her children have moved back and forth between the U.S. and Canada. She's scared, as she says, to see the growing U.S. right-wing ideology in Canada.

She listens to Canadian programs. She listens to The Bridge she listens to the bridge every day she says she claims glad to have you on board Zoya but here's her here's the letter she wrote

well she wrote a long letter I'm not going to read it all but I am going to read part of it I want people like you to discuss more about the solutions and not just the problems we need to find a way to stop this growing madness and not let our vulnerable people and young generations be drawn to this cancer that is growing in all democratic countries this is a time to start because as much as the invasion of Ukraine is heartbreaking, it is helping people to see the difference between totalitarian government

and democracy. I'm not an expert, but I hope you talk to people as you have done in the past and spend more time with those who have knowledge and power to find a solution before our society slowly changes to the right-wing populism in front of our eyes and before we all say, how did this happen? As my father said many times after the revolution in Iran. We all need to do more by using social media and other ways to teach people what it means to live in a society that George Orwell warned us so many years ago.

Sincerely, Zoya. Thanks, Zoya, for this letter. I've been thinking about it a lot. And one of the ways that I thought I would try to answer some of those questions or at least get some serious, educated, thoughtful comments on it, I reached out to Margaret Macmillan, the internationally known and respected author, Canadian, teaches at the University of Toronto,

but also teaches in the United Kingdom. And she's in the UK right now. And I was talking with her a little back and forth yesterday. And she's going to come on the program. She's going to come on the bridge in the next little while. And we're going to talk about some of these issues. And I'm looking forward to that that maybe try and make a special out of that one okay there's more to discuss and part of it is about covid and we'll do that right after

this and welcome back. Peter Mansbridge here in Stratford, Ontario, with the latest episode of The Bridge. It's a Your Turn Thursday. You're listening on Sirius XM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. Wherever you're listening from, we're glad to have you with us. Once again, I'll give you lots of warning on the Margaret Macmillan show. Once we get

that organized, it'll be at some point in the next week or two. All right. Second segment of the Your Turn Today is on COVID. That story that is not leaving us. And if you believe some of the latest reports, there's a bounce back happening in certain parts of the world. Not yet in Canada. Hopefully, we'll duck it.

But it is happening, certainly in Asia, certainly in parts of Europe. And, you know, it's being described as either a new wave or a wavelet. So we'll keep our eye on that. But it clearly has, you know, some of you worried. Like Gabby Morancy from Montreal. I know everyone is tired of COVID, not least of all me, but this pandemic is not over.

Ignoring it by lifting mask and vaccine mandates and physical distancing recommendations will not make it go away. I understand that this is probably as good as it's going to get for a good long while. I understand that we need to return to some semblance of normalcy. But I also understand that we need to learn a new way going about our daily life, a new way of playing it safe in our day-to-day activities, as opposed to pretending COVID no longer exists.

That is the key to moving forward with confidence, reassurance, safety, and just plain COVID-19 street smarts. Gabby Maronce from Saint-Lazare, Quebec, Montreal. Kim Bell. She's quite, Kim is not happy since St. Catharines, Ontario. I'm writing to you because my husband and I are about to become second-class citizens in our own city, province, and country, and we're not alone. We are immune compromised. My husband has had his fourth shot. I'm getting mine on Friday. That's today. It doesn't really matter what illnesses we have, but that we're way up there in the catch-it-and-die category of vulnerable.

Now we feel as though we are being thrown to the wolves, first by all of these conservative premiers and soon by all of them. First drop vaccine mandates. As one of the writers in last week's show said of the pastor she had spoken to, the third shot was never even mandated. So now we have a population with waning immunity while we are still hitting near record daily numbers. We likely have in the vicinity of 200,000 active cases in Ontario. I currently live in the Niagara region and it seems our region is less vaccinated than most. Now, these small political figures, no way I can refer to them as leaders, are dropping mask mandates.

This is unthinkable and untenable for folks in our position. Kim was inspired to write because I'd mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was thinking of dropping the regular Monday COVID segment. She doesn't like that idea, and I've got a lot of males. People don't want me to do that. I'm pleading with you to continue, says Kim. You're one of the last sources of objective scientific information about this, and I believe your podcast can at least continue to keep us informed

as mainstream media drops this. Okay, I'm not sure they're dropping it, but other things have entered the news picture, the daily news picture, obviously Ukraine, and that's had a huge impact. Greg Yarker. Where's Greg writing from? Kingston. He's in the kingston area it strikes me that as mandates are being lifted across the country and the urgency in communicating the benefits of vaccination seems to be waning

perhaps we're simply seeing the general behaviors of canadians exposed when it comes to getting vaccinations with this in mind i thought i would google the behavior of canadians when it comes to getting vaccinations. With this in mind, I thought I would Google the behavior of Canadians when it comes to getting the annual flu vaccine and see if it resembles anything relative to third-dose COVID vaccination numbers. While my research was by no means thorough or scientific, it was interesting. According to the Government of Canada, as published on Canada.ca, during the 2020-2021 influenza season, 41% of Canadians received their flu shot.

On the same website, it details that as of March 11, 2022, the percentage of Canadians who are fully vaccinated with an additional dose, that's the third vaccine, is 46.14%. A similar response. That's interesting. A couple of questions that are sort of, you know, on different subjects, sort of more general. Here's one on the conservative leadership situation from Joe Alessandro.

I'm not sure where Joe is writing from. If Pierre Palliev loses the conservative leadership race, does he remain in the party and support the new leader, or does he jump to the People's Party? And if he jumps, what does that mean for the conservatives? Well, Joe, obviously I don't know the answer to that question, and I'm sure Pierre Polyev would answer it by saying, I have no intention of losing, and I'm not going to deal with anything hypothetical. But so let's think about it.

What would he do? Well, he'd be really upset. He staked everything on this. And for a while, it looked like he was going to be the only candidate. Now he's just one of a bunch, a lot, and they're targeting him. Which, depending on your strategic thinking, is either a really good place to be, that everybody's coming after me, or it's a really bad place to be, because everybody's coming after me.

But he leaped from the conservatives to the People's Party? I don't think so. I think it's more likely that if he wins, that the People's Party might leap to him. But we'll see. Caroline Auckland Thompson from Calgary, Alberta. Now, Caroline is a 68-year-old retired teacher.

She's been teaching kids since she was 13 in one form or another, swimming, canoeing, kayaking. Even had a little dance studio for a couple of years, she says. So she's always been involved in teaching kids about the importance of life and understanding what their rights are, what their responsibilities are as good citizens. As she says, in Alberta, the students are first introduced to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in grade 6 We would go over them and look at how they affected the students And then we would look at the responsibilities and how they belong together So here's her comment

New Canadians know about rights, freedoms and responsibilities Children have been taught in school about rights, freedoms, and responsibilities. Children have been taught in school about rights, freedoms, and responsibilities. Why then are there so many adults running around demanding their rights and freedoms without fulfilling their responsibilities? JFK, John Kennedy, said something like, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. It wasn't something like that, Caroline. That was exactly what he said in his inaugural speech in 1961

when he became President of the United States. Now, according to Caroline, it should be, Demand not your rights and freedoms unless you have fulfilled your responsibilities. Perhaps the fault lies with the document itself. When you look at the rights and freedoms, they're in large letters. Responsibilities are in the fine print. That's something to think about. Thanks, Caroline.

All right, getting around now to our last letter. It comes from Betty Ricketts in Waverly, Nova Scotia. Dear Peter, I've thoroughly enjoyed your podcast for just under two years and find it to be not only a trusted source of important and current information, but a place where our

past is honoured, where our forefathers in this wonderful country are honoured. Last week, I was shocked and heartbroken to read on cbc.ca that a developer has received approval to build a condominium complex adjacent to Juneau Beach, our Juneau Beach. No doubt you have heard of this as well.

I was moved by your story of receiving your grandfather's medals recently and agree wholeheartedly that it is so important that we continue to share stories of our brave soldiers. My dad, Earl Netherton, landed on D-Day and survived to fight his way through Europe and help liberate the people of Holland. I'm so proud and thankful for his life every day. The traffic, noise, and busyness of this type of development is unthinkable in a sacred place where so many Canadians fought and

died. It will also encroach on the Canadian museum that sits nearby. I urge your listeners to write to their MPs and the Ministers of Veterans Affairs, Heritage, External Affairs, and others to express extreme disappointment in the hopes that this decision will be reversed. Lest we forget. Kindest Regards, Betty Ricketts, Waverly, Nova Scotia. Betty, thanks for that letter. Let me just mention a couple of things. I'm somewhat biased on this.

I'm a member of the juno beach patrons committee so i'm aware of the the basics of this story now on the one hand you can't you know stop all development or you can't stop all change that happens in certain areas. You know, Juneau Beach is a fairly long stretch, right? It encompasses a number of different communities on the Normandy coast. And the one I usually stay at when I'm there, and I've been there many times, is Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, which is near the eastern edge of Juneau Beach,

of the communities that were fought for and liberated by Canadian troops on June 6, 1944. Now, if you go to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer today, or like in the summer, it's kind of a tourist area, right? Not just because of the memories of D-Day, which they respect and honor every year. But as I said, it's a tourist area. So you can go to the very beach where Canadians landed, fought, and hundreds died on D-Day. You can go to that very beach in the middle of the summer,

right around June 6th. And it's a beach. There are people all over it, sunning and tanning and swimming, some of them topless. As one veteran said to me at Dieppe just down the coast after that bloodbath that he'd been involved in in 1942,

he'd gone back for one of these reunion trips and he went to the very spot that he'd climbed up the beach and there was this young French woman

sunbathing topless. He looked at her and he said, man, it sure wasn't like this the last time I was here. But he said it with a smile and with respect. And he didn't expect or want anything less.

Time does move on. So that's on the one hand of development in the Juneau Beach area. On the other hand is, I don't think anybody's saying can't build those condos. What they want is some respect on the traffic in that immediate area. Because at this point, the roads and the constructions and vehicles and everything are just, the plan is for them to sort of tear through the whole area with little or no respect for what happened on those grounds.

That's the argument. I, I, I'm not suggesting in any way, Betty, that I disagree with you. I agree with you. And I think people should write and take exception to what's going on and ask the Canadian government

if there's anything they can do to ensure that respect is given to the lands on which Canada fought and died on, in part to liberate those very people from the Nazi forces

that were holding them basically hostage. Alright, that wraps it up for your turn for this week. Lots of interesting letters and thoughts from you, and I appreciate it always. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. The Mansbridge Podcast at gmail.com. You can write anytime. Tomorrow, Friday,

Good Talk. Chantel Iber, Bruce Anderson, lots to talk about as there always is. You never turn on Good Talk on a Friday and it's like dead air.

There's always things to talk about with those three. Well, three including me. So, that's it for this day. I'm Peter Mansbridge.

Thanks so much for listening. We enjoyed doing this. Love talking to you on the bridge. And we'll talk to you again in 24 hours. Thank you.