The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - Your Turn -- Your Thoughts on the Monarchy

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Plus the Random Ranter drops by with something very different but equally important.

And hello there, Peter Vanspich here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday. That means your turn. And the question this week is all about the monarchy. Your answers on that coming right up. That's right. We're just a couple of days away from King Charles III's first visit as King to Canada.

He's been here many times before as Prince of Wales. But this is the first time as the ruling monarch, the King of Canada, Canada's head of state, touches down Monday afternoon in the nation's capital and then Tuesday morning he reads the speech from the throne and then he's out of here. It's a quick visit, about 24 hours, crossing the Atlantic to make a statement and we'll find out just what that statement is in the speech from the throne. And you can be sure a lot of people will be watching that, not just here in Canada, but I imagine some eyes will be watching from south of the border as well, and you know who I'm talking about. So we await with, you know, some interest, greater for some people than others, but nevertheless, it'll be an important news day.

Now, the question this week was intended to try and get your feelings about the monarchy as it sits here in 2025, especially in light, I think, of the events of the past few months, the call from the President of the United States that we should be the 51st state, the decision on the part of the British government to have the King invite Donald Trump to the United Kingdom for a state visit. This will be his second one. And kind of the ducking of the issue of Canada's sovereignty, which has upset some people, myself included, but not others. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days. So I invited your letters and as usual, you put pen to paper, finger to keyboard, and fired off some, some missives towards me.

Also today, the random rancher, he's not on the monarchy. I asked him if he wanted to do something on the monarchy and well, I'll, I'll reserve comment on his, his actual answer to that. But he has one, he has a comment, a rant today that I think you'll find interesting. It's kind of a wake up call to Canadians to see what you think about it. Okay, let's get to your letters. In no particular order. J.T. Rowland in Kingsville, Ontario. The monarchy is a great part of Canadian history and will be a great part of Canada's future. They'll be there for us if we'll be there for them.

God save the King. All right, J.T. Dominique Scuglia in Aliston, Ontario. As a proud Canadian, I respect the existence of the monarchy as part of our heritage. However, I cannot support any Canadian dollars being sent to pay for their expenses, including royal visits to our country. We have outlived their importance to our existence as a country and maintain the historical connection only. Now somebody will do the adding up of the costs of this visit and how much Canadians will pay, which will be a significant part of the visit costs.

Remember this is for about a 24-hour stop in Canada. Janice Voss in Edmonton. King Charles is just a caretaker placeholder for William. Queen Elizabeth showed the monarchy can play an important leadership role in Canada and the world. We are seeing William laying the groundwork to continue what his grandmother did. King Charles is keeping the throne warm for William. The monarch is an important yet mostly ceremonial part of our parliamentary system. Too bad we have to wait for William. bad we have to wait for William. Deb Greening, district of Lakeland 52, Saskatchewan. That's north of Prince Albert. You know what? I get a kick out of these letters every week because

there are a significant number of them. Come from communities, big and small. But for many of them, well, not many of them, but I find a significant number of them are places where I lived. And this is one of them. I lived in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in the summer of 1968. I was working for a small airline, Transair, regional airline in Western Canada. They had a route that flew Winnipeg for a

while, it stopped in Brandon where I worked as well, Regina, Saskatchewan, Prince Albert. PA was the last of that Saskatchewan route and then they turned around and flew back. Same way. But I lived there for, I don't know, three months. I was there in June of 1968. There was a federal election then. I remember sitting in the barber shop on the main street, that's back when I had hair, on the main street of Prince Albert, when John Diefenbaker, who was the MP for Prince Albert, walked down the road with a gaggle of, you know,

reporters and some interested PA residents. And he walked right by the barbershop. Didn't come in, but he walked right by. So that was a memory. It was shortly after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy where I was in PA as well. I was living in a boarding house at that time in Prince Albert and the five other boarders in the house were women. I was the only guy there. You know, I remember I was asleep. I'd had

a long shift. I was asleep. It was the middle of the night. One of the girls came into my room, woke me up, said, Peter, Peter, Bobby Kennedy's just been shot. You got to get up, watch this. And so I got up and that's how I found out about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. All right, moving on. That's my Prince Albert story. I had a great time there. I loved working at the airport, even though it was a very short period of time. I went from Prince Albert to Churchill, Manitoba, where the rest of my life story picked up. Okay. Next letter, Sandy Esposito in Aurora, Ontario. That's north of Toronto. After Elizabeth's death, my brother asked me if I was a

monarchist or an Elizabethan. I thought about that for a second and realized that I was an Elizabethan. My view is not wavered. Charles has not been a big defender of Canada. I think King Charles III should have been more forceful from the beginning, when the President started his nonsense about Canada becoming the 51st state. You'll get no argument from me, Sandy, on that one. There are, you know, and I'm kind of tired of saying this, I've been saying this actually for months, but there are all kinds of protocol attached to what the king can say or not say and what direction he has to take from the,

in the case of the United Kingdom from the Prime Minister of the UK. But you know, he's also the King of Canada and I think we'll find that out next week because you can be sure they're not bringing them all the way over here. Just not to mention the sovereignty of this nation. I think that'll be pretty clear. But we'll see. What do I know? Lawrence Rainey in Muskoka, Ontario. The fact is, we are a constitutional monarchy that is likely to continue due to the difficulty of any amendments

to our constitution. That's true. It ain't easy to amend the Canadian constitution as we have witnessed. It is actually a blessing as our parliamentary system allows the opposition in the House of Commons to regularly ask questions of our Prime Minister and cabinet members face to face. Contrast that to the situation in the U.S., which is rapidly turning into an autocracy with a completely impotent Congress at the moment. Matthew Sklarczyk and Vernon B.C. I am hesitant to rid ourselves of the monarchy. There is a naive assumption that anything we replace it with would be an improvement. Could indigenous settler-descendant,

immigrant and Québécois populations agree on a new constitution? Author Stephen Fry put it best when he said maybe America would be better off if it had a human embodiment of Uncle Sam, to whom the president had to answer. Be careful what you wish for. Robert Konshack in Las Vegas, Nevada. I support the monarchy. Canada would be well-s served to stick close to it. The Windsors may be a dysfunctional family, aren't we all? But even so, it remains important for

Canada. Frank Wang in Surrey, BC To me, the monarchy is a sideshow. Functionally, we are not that indifferent from a republic. Instead of worrying about the ceremonial role of the monarchy, we should focus on real issues that affect the fundamentals of our nation. Issues such as Senate reform and electoral reform. Until then, I see little reason to care about who is on the throne and ocean away. Wish that said, I do find the ceremonies pretty neat. They are when they're precise, and often they are.

And we'll see, we'll be watching the inspection of the Guard of Honour outside the Parliament buildings before the speech from the throne is read by the King. Wesley Burton in Timmons, Ontario. When I was younger, I was a staunch Republican. That changed over time as I read the history and the alternatives. I'm now for the monarchy and the political stability that comes with an apolitical head of state. Do people really want a President Trudeau, Poliev, or Carney?

I do not. Let us continue with our stable form of government with a constitutional monarch. And Ward in Ottawa. I am indifferent to the monarchy. I mean I wish them all happy lives but I don't want to be any part of those lives so I won't listen to or read anything about them. And yes, I used to live in Ottawa. I wasn't born in Ottawa.

I didn't spend my early years in Ottawa, but I did spend my kind of school years, you know, grade school and high school in Ottawa. And I love that city, always have. I loved growing up there, I loved working there when I came back from the West after almost 10 years in Western Canada and came and worked on the Parliament Hills as a parliamentary correspondent. I thought I was going to hate living on Parliament Hill and working on Parliament Hill, but I ended up loving it. Perhaps too much. You kind of get inside that Ottawa bubble. It's hard to get out of it. Bill Flowers in Amherst, Nova Scotia. I'm a monarchist and I've been one since I first saw Queen Elizabeth.

Her portrait in the one-room school I attended in primary school in the late 1950s. And since the days when my father taught us to stand to attention when God saved the Queen came on. The monarchy represents stability in a world that is anything but. Dave Cole in Wallaceburg, Ontario. That's about an hour from Windsor. I've been on the fence for some time regarding the monarchy. It costs us far too much to maintain a Governor General considering what we get in return. The recent silence by King Charles has left us on our own. As such we should go at... let me get this right... as such we should go at a one and cut our ties with the monarchy.

I would say, though, Queen Elizabeth would have never sat on her hands and let Trump get away with the 51st state comment. You know, I thought about that often, and I've tried to figure, what would she have done? Because I think even anti-monarchists have a great deal of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth. And many of us wonder, well, you know, what would she have done put in that situation? When they sent over from 10 Downing Street, we want you to send this invite to Donald Trump. Knowing that Trump at that time was already mumbling about 51st state stuff,

many people thought it was a joke at the time. It wasn't a joke. Never was a joke. It certainly isn't a joke now. It's changing, as the government of today says, everything about our relationship with the United States. So what would Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Canada, have said? Would she have put up some resistance with the Kirste Armer government about the invitation to Donald Trump? Or would she have let it pass? As we assume Charles did, we don't know that he did, but we're assuming he did because the request went out with smiles.

I don't know, because it bumps up against the constitutional requirements that the monarch has with the government of the day. However, it would be nice to think that whether it was Queen Elizabeth or whether it was Charles, that somebody would have said, you know what, is this really the smart thing to do at this moment? Some defensive Canadian sovereignty would have been nice. I think we'll hear it next week. I don't think there's any doubt that we'll hear it. There's no way he'd be getting on a plane for a 24-hour visit unless he was coming to clean up on aisle 5. Moving on. David Oliver in Victoria.

Anything the King says on a matter of national interest is directed or vetted by the Prime Minister both in Canada and the UK. I'm sure the 2 PMsm. have discussed the 51st state needling, it's more than needling David sorry, an impossible reaction by the palace. Because of their somewhat divergent policies towards Donald Trump perhaps their strategy is silence for now but have the King visit Canada to open parliament and make a statement then that appears to be what's happening. Christine Ramos in Toronto. I do not consider myself a monarchist, but I do believe in the

tradition of the monarchy in Canada. Canada is recognizing the historical significance of its origins by remaining a constitutional monarchy, and I like traditions. Being a part of the Commonwealth is also beneficial. It gives us a tide of 55 countries and in today's world where countries are becoming increasingly isolationists, having a network of friends with common values is a good thing. Not sure all the values are common but I hear what you're saying. Michael Berio near Bragg Creek, Alberta. I am much more in favor of the legal concept of the crown than I am concerned by the personalities of those who wear it.

I prefer a more depoliticized court system of the Crown vs. John or Jane Doe than the U.S. justice system, where issues are framed as the people vs. John or Jane Doe than the US justice system, where issues are framed as the people versus John or Jane and judges are elected or our political appointments. Bill Ebert in Edmonton. Like capitalism, the monarchy is not perfect. It does have its warts, but it did give us, and many other successful countries, a structure or a way to run a government. I think it's the best way. The person behind the wheel might not be our favorite person, but it works. Hard to replace our late queen, an amazing and strong person.

and strong person. Rachel Macdonnell in Victoria. As a young girl growing up in Vancouver, my English grandmother was forever telling me how wonderfully brilliant the Queen was, gifted, gracious, and spoke many languages fluently. As I got older, identified with the younger Lady Diana. I thought she was kind, compassionate, a real people's princess. I was devastated when she tragically died. Over the years, I have not been a regular royal watcher. But when Donald Trump announced his intent to annex Canada, my first thought was, but we belong to the British Commonwealth.

I cannot help thinking that the Queen, if she were alive today, would have put Trump in his place immediately. King Charles wearing Canadian insignia as a show of support means little. Times are unprecedented. Hence a revisioning of royal protocol is imperative. Marielle Pichet in Wakefield Quebec, just north of Ottawa. I'm no monarchist, but I'm not sure what Canada stands to gain from serving that relationship. Severing, sorry. I'm no monarchist, but I'm not sure what Canada stands to gain from severing that relationship. Let's benefit from our bond with the UK in terms of military security and economic opportunity.

Ask any First Nations historian. There is a dark side to the colonial legacy. There's also good We have the UK to thank for our parliamentary democracy Let's make sure every Canadian kid grows up understanding both sides of that coin Constance Menzies in narrow Manitoba, it's a little northeast of Winnipeg Lived in Winnipeg. Lived in Winnipeg too. I have her five years. Quibble about the monarch's efficacy, but they are useful in highlighting

some non-political organizations and institutions. The monarch is a part of Canada's constitution and they ensure linkages throughout the Commonwealth and EU, which is very beneficial for us right now. The purpose ultimately is sovereign security. And so for this, King Charles must do his job and stand up for Canada already, especially during this throne speech. P.S. I miss Queen Elizabeth. OK. We're roughly halfway. Got lots more letters, but.

I think it's time for our for the random ranter to come out of the wings and do his stick for this week. And this week, he's not talking about the monarchy. As I said earlier, he's like he didn't want to go there, but he does have something interesting to talk about. And you would say, well, he always has something interesting to talk about. And you would be right by saying that. So let's get to what he has to say today. Here he is, the random ranter.

You know, I love being Canadian. We're strong, we're kind, we're polite, and we're not braggarts. Tooting our own horn is decidedly not a Canadian attribute, but sometimes maybe we need to, because one of the biggest things that bothers me about the whole Canadian experience is our lack of confidence in ideas that are made in Canada. We always seem to want proof of concept from somewhere else before we implement anything, and that goes for everything from public policy to public transit. And if you're thinking about European style bike lanes when I say that, well so am I.

They're a perfect example of what works in other places, not always working here. But that's the thing, Canadians tend to look at other places first for ideas instead of looking within ourselves for homegrown solutions. The line is always, well if it's such a good idea, why aren't they doing it somewhere else? Or, let's look at how they do it in the states and do that. I mean, there are tons of supposed think tanks out there who state it purpose is thinking

of new ideas, but who in practice just regurgitate ideas from other places. Because as Canadians, other places are supposed to inspire us, I guess. But you know, you shouldn't live your life just copying what other people do. And you shouldn't run your country that way either. Look, Canada is suffering from declining productivity. We're second last in the G7, and we're continuing to slowly fall behind. Well maybe part of that problem is that we've grown a largely derivative economy based on

a bunch of derivative ideas instead of having the confidence to come up with some truly Canadian solutions. I'm not saying Canadians aren't leaders in certain areas. We're great at a lot of things. But even then, we don't seem to trust ourselves until others acknowledge our greatness. Now the reason I'm talking about this today is because I've been thinking about the future. And I don't think there's another nation on Earth that is positioned with as much opportunity as Canada has. Think about it. We live on a warming planet, hungry for energy,

arable land, fresh water, rare earth elements, and space to live. And we've got it all. From oil and gas and uranium to abundant hydro, we've got a thriving ag sector, a massive untapped north teeming with everything from gold, silver and nickel to lithium, cobalt and a periodic table worth of rare earth elements. We're the second largest country in the world and a whopping 9%

of our landmass is covered by fresh water. But the opportunity isn't just natural resources. We have a population with the skills and education to grow our already strong manufacturing sector. All we need now is the confidence to trust in ourselves. If you look back at our history, we used to have that confidence. At one point, we were innovators. But over time, that's been largely eroded by our close relationship slash dependency upon the United States. Well, that close relationship is no more. So it's time to snap out of our productivity malaise and start innovating old school Canadian style.

All we need now is the confidence to trust ourselves. Let's go Canada. Our time is now. Let's go Canada, our time is now. You know, the one thing you can trust the random rancher to do every week is to bring up things that, you know, perhaps we should be thinking about. You know, you can listen to the program today and say, well, you know, the monarchy, it's really interesting. It's kind of timely because of, you know, the visit next week. But really, at the end

of the day, how important is it when you compare it to some of the things he just talked about in that rant? I don't know. I'll let you, I'll let you think about that one. And that is in no way to dismiss your letters this week. I think they're great. And they speak to an issue that is like quite frankly is on our minds. It may not be on our minds five days from now. And it may disappear into the background as the monarchy issues usually do for long periods of time and then they pop up for some reason and This is it's one of those cases

Okay We're gonna take our break and then we can we'd be right back with lots more of Of your letters and there are quite a few more to come back in a moment. And welcome back Peter Mansbridge here. This is your Thursday episode of The Bridge, which is of course, your turn and the random renter. Okay. We've heard the renter and we've heard half of your letters. So let's get right back to more letters.

You're listening on SiriusXM channel 167 Canada Talks or on your favorite podcast platform, wherever you're listening, God they have you with us. Okay. Okay, Denis St-Hilaire in Winnipeg. I've never been in Monarchus, however, if King Charles makes a strong and compelling statement of defense and support for Canada and directs such a statement as a message to not only Trump, but also Prime Minister Starmer, then I may change my mind. Up to the present time, I've not seen any practical benefit of the monarchy for Canada.

Nicholas Hamilton and Prince George British Columbia. King Charles groveling to Trump in the interests of the UK, but against the interests of Canada, convinced me that it's time to repatriate the Crown. I strongly believe that republicanism does not fit with Canada's culture and values. I would propose continuing with the Governor-General in the same role, following existing jurisprudence and traditions.

Perhaps First Nations could carry this role, being proven as defenders of the Constitution, most recently in Alberta. Donald Mitchell, Lieutenant Commander, Royal Canadian Navy, Ottawa. The speech from the throne will be 99.98% written by the Government of Canada. There will be a very small opportunity either at the start of the speech or at the conclusion for the King to put in a personal touch. I'm an avowed monarchist. I see zero reason for us to become a republic, especially like the US, where the head of state is also the head of government. God saved the king. That's from our two and a half Donald Mitchell. Two and a half means lieutenant commander.

All right, John Minchell in Comox Valley, B. BC. My thoughts on the monarchy are that the institution is something to be retained, but the current monarch, King Charles III's position on Canadian sovereignty is disappointing. As the sovereign of Canada, King Charles should defend the realm sovereignty as our head of state. That should be part of the bargain. Well, let's see what he says on Tuesday. Frank Padice in Toronto. Monarchy itself is not the problem, but our shared monarch is. Although constitutionally the roles of King Charles III of Canada and the United Kingdom are separate,

using him at this moment to protect us from existential threats, presumably because of his more substantial weight as the UK's sovereign, not as ours, only serves to perpetuate the false colonial narrative under which we labor and which compromises us in every way, economically, militarily, and culturally. T.C. Tsang in Vancouver. King Charles' lack of an adequate response to Donald Trump's 51st state threat highlights the conflicted role he's in.

Not only is he the King of Canada, but he's also the king of the United Kingdom. He can't do anything that may compromise the interests of the UK. Thus I support replacing the monarch with a ceremonial president like that of Germany and Singapore. Or if that's too radical have a well-known member of the British royal family move here to become the monarch of Canada and only Canada. I haven't heard that idea before. Leo Bourdon in Ottawa. I've never been a fan of the institution even when the former queen made it if possible to see it graciously. It's a relic of our colonial past,

impossible to change because of our constitution but very few Canadians identify with, particularly fewer if the said Canadian is indigenous, francophone, or from a newer identity. I compare it to the Pope. Imagine if the Pope was our head of state. The Pope is nice, right? Ken Peleschok in Newstatt, Ontario In my youth, I was a cynical Gen X kid who liked punk rock. So I was an anti-monarchist. Today I see the value of a long-standing institution beyond politics and something which ties us closer with our Commonwealth friends. God save our King and Heaven bless the Maple Leaf forever.

It's not as catchy as the Sex Pistols, but the message is more positive. How we got the Sex pistols into this. Your turn this week is forever baffled me. What was that guy's lead singer's name? Sid Vicious? Tim Lawrence writes from St. Thomas, Ontario. And this is not the Tim Lawrence who's married to Princess Anne.

This is the Tim Lawrence who lives in St. Thomas. However, Tim writes, I'm a monarchist. Everyone always agrees the separation of church and state is important, but just as important is the separation of state and government, or else too much power is vested in one person. A president has so little time to understand the needs of the people and even less time to achieve them, whereas a monarch ensures there is always one consistent voice to advise the government of the day.

Rignell, Ontario is where Patrick Tallon writes from. I'm generally opposed to the monarchy, though I respected Queen Elizabeth for her grace and historic role. King Charles feels like a caricature, and I hold little regard for him or his wife. That said, the monarchy remains embedded in Canada's democratic framework. His visit to Ottawa next week, though pompous, sends a clear signal to Trump and others, we are sovereign. If that deters talk of us becoming the 51st state, I'll endure it. I'll endure it. Mark Renick in Guelph, Ontario.

The functions they attend are very important to the cohesion of the free world. We need all the friends in the world that we can have. Wendy Cecil in Toronto. I was disappointed that King Charles did not immediately dismiss Donald Trump's impertinence at calling Canada the 51st state. But my appreciation of the Crown and the important role it plays in our constitutional monarchy was not shaken. When King Charles delivers the throne speech, it will be a dignified but powerful message to the US President that his clumsy and unwelcome advances on Canada's sovereignty have been royally dismissed.

Well, let's hope so, Wendy. I hope you're right. I think you probably are. I think it's been made very clear to the King. Remember it was one of the first places that Mark Carney traveled to after he became leader of the Liberal Party and the 24th Prime Minister as a result of that, unelected at the time, but nevertheless he traveled to London, he met with the King, which is kind of customary for new prime ministers to do that. I think they, the two men, know each other. I don't know, but I'm sure the prime minister made it abundantly clear that this situation with Trump wasn't a joke and it would be nice to have his support. I think that was probably the genesis of

the idea of coming to Canada to read the speech from the throne if the Liberals Simon Bridge in Ottawa. I support the monarchies role in Canada, but I was stunned when the palace announced in March that the King would visit the US to mark their 250th birthday and squeeze in a Canadian visit on that trip. I think this is a next year thing. Let me check that. It felt tone deaf. Choose one, not both. I feared he'd lost touch with Canada and our loyalty. His recent gestures, including the speech from the throne, help, but trust was chipped away and must be earned back.

All right, a little checking shows there's been no official announcement of Charles visiting the U.S. There have, however, been media reports that Charles and Camilla are planning a visit in the spring of 2026, which indeed is 250 years after 1776. Marcia Batley in Fonthill, Ontario, that's near St. Catharines. Whether the monarchy lives up to their calling or not, we must give royalty time and space to fulfill their role and potential. Yeah, I guess they're really busy. Michael Pash in Victoria. I agree that it would have been helpful if the King had said a little more on the subject

of Canadian sovereignty. Would Her Late Majesty have said or done anything differently? I suspect not. You know, the sovereign does not directly comment on politics. Oblique gestures only is the rule. His Majesty reading the throne speech is a significant statement that underlines our history and connection to the crown. Sets the right tone. Whether you're keen on the current king and his family or not, they do embody an important difference between Canada and the belligerent republic.

Long may they reign. Lisanne Donnelly in southern Quebec Canadians want to build what is needed to remain a sovereign nation. We need allies and the monarchy is that. This seems to be the only reason to remain part of the monarchy and it doesn't mean they're going to help defend our borders. I don't want to live under Trump or his Golden Dome. So let's see what the King has to say next week. You know, we got a lot of letters, not as many as we've had recently on this subject, or not on this subject.

We've had a lot of letters recently, but through the election, through the politics of the Trump stuff. On the monarchy, we certainly had enough for a show, as you can tell. But when you take them all into consideration, and we've read not all of them on the air today, as we, you know, we never read everything, but we read a cross-section. When you categorize the letters as, you know, pro-monarchy or anti-monarchy. You know, that's, it is something of a subjective exercise because so many people came down on one side or the other, but often included on the other hand. But when you kind of go through

them all and then try to tick off a box of pro-monarchy or anti-monarchy. It actually looks about two to one in favor of the monarchy. So there you go. I think even those, and it kind of shows through on this, those like myself who've considered themselves monarchists, I've had to sit back and go, this has not been a good moment for that relationship. And as we so often say in these days, you can blame that on Trump. That, and again, so the crunch, as you can see in those letters,

the favorability factor is still on the side of the monarchists, at least on the ones who chose to write in this week on this topic. Okay, a couple of notes about the days ahead. Tomorrow, of course, is Good Talk. Chantelle Bair and Rob Russo will be here. I'm not sure we'll talk about the king again. We kind of did that last week, but there are certainly things that

somebody mentioned in one of those letters, the golden dome, we might talk about that. But there are always things to talk about with Chantelle and Rob and we'll find that space A note about the buzz. The buzz comes out Saturday morning, 7 a.m. Eastern time. And the buzz, if you're not aware of it already, is a newsletter that I put together each week of some of the stories that I found fascinating during the you to have a look at. So there's usually half a dozen or seven or eight different nods to certain stories and the odd comment from me as well. So does the buzz cost money? No, it doesn't.

It's free. But you do have to register for it. So if you go to nationalnewswatch.com slash newsletter, all you have to do is put down your email address and you'll be onto the list. Sometimes things get shoved into your junk mail for some reason. So if you don't see it there right away, have a look in your junk mail to make sure it didn't get diverted or spam or whatever you call them. But that's the buzz. Once again, no charge. Enjoy it. We've got quite a few thousands of subscribers and occasionally I hear at the Mansbridge podcast at gmail.com your reaction to certain things. But I appreciate that just as I appreciate your comments about this program.

I read everything. I read all the mail that comes in and there's a lot of it and therefore not everyone gets answers. Just assume that they have been read. And a lot of people send me or ask me to look at a manuscript of a book they're writing or proposing. I can't do that all the time. I do it on occasion, but I can't do it all the time. That's just like, I have a lot of stuff. Okay. So that's it for the couple of days ahead.

Tomorrow good talk. The weekend, the buzz. Thanks for listening today and thanks for writing in. Always enjoy reading your letters. Always enjoy that. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you again in almost 24 hours.