Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - March 2024 Memorial Episode: Toronto Mike'd #1463

Episode Date: March 31, 2024

In this 1463rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike pays tribute to those we lost in March 2024. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them. As always, I open this episode with that quote from George Eliot, because I believe it to be true. By remembering those who have passed, we give them life. Let's remember those we lost in March 2024. This memorial episode of Toronto Mic'd is brought to you by Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921. Secondly, because as a first-ranked jazz singer, she chose to remain in this country and break new ground as the first jazz singer ever to have her own CBC series. And thirdly, because she's such a beautiful the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, I was born, said my father, said he, of a lelican's legacy just waiting for To the wine for your lips And the song for your heart

To sing it whenever the world falls apart Oh, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look to the rainbow Follows the fellow, follows the dream Follow, follow the velloo Follow the dream So I wrapped up my heart and I rolled the white tree to the east, to the East with a lock, To the West with the sea. And I scanned all the skies Found it, I found it at last in my own true love's eyes Oh, Luke, look, Luke, look to that rainbow. Eleanor Collins was Canada's first lady of jazz. She began performing in the 1930s on television and radio shows across this country. And she worked with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Oscar Peterson. She starred in CBC's The Eleanor Show in 1955, making her the first woman and the first person of color to headline a show on national television. Throughout the 1960s and 70s she was heard often on radio and television, on CBC and CTV. Well, I'm on my way to the city lights

To the pretty face that shines her light on the city nights And I've got a kitchen noontrain I've got to be there on time Oh it feels so good to know she waits at the end of the line Sweet, sweet city woman I can see your pace, I can hear your voice, I can almost touch you Sweet, sweet, silly woman Uncle Pam, join me, si bon, bon, bon, si bon, bon, bon si bon bon bon bon bon Bon, si bon, bon, bon, si bon bon bon

si bon bon bon bon bon So long, bon, so long, bon So long, neighbors and friends Like a country morning, all smothered in dew I just got away to make a man feel shiny and new And she's singing the and tenderness and macaroons. Sweet, sweet, tippy woman. I can see your face, I can hear your voice, I can almost touch you. Sweet, sweet, tippy woman.

On my banjo and me, we got a feel for the singin' Ronnie King was the bassist and original member of the Stampeders, best known for this Sweet Diddy, Sweet City Woman. Here's what the band shared on their Facebook page. Here's what the band shared on their Facebook page. It is with sadness and love that we must announce the passing of our longtime friend and bandmate, Cornelius Van Sprang, known to most of us as Ronnie King. Ronnie died yesterday at the Peter Lohede Hospital in Calgary. The sudden drastic turn in his health took us all by surprise, as little as three weeks

ago he was looking forward to doing one final tour with the Stampeeters and was in a positive and optimistic state of mind. Sadly it was not meant to be. Ronnie King died on March 4th, 2024, at the age of 76. In my eyes, indisposed, in disguise as no one knows Hides the face, lies the snake And the sun in my disgrace Boiling heat, summer stench Neath the black the sky looks dead Call my name through the cream And I'll hear you scream again

Black hole sun, won't you come To wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come, won't you come Star the rain, cold and dain Steal the warm wind, tight frame Times have gone for honest men And sometimes far too long for snares

In my shoes I'll walk and sleep And my youth I pray to keep Heaven send hell away No one sings like you anymore Black hole sun, won't you come Wash away the rain Like old sun, won't you come, won't you come Like old sun, won't you come, won't you come Wash away the rain, wash away the sun

Won't you come, won't you come HANG MY HEAD Hang my head, drown my fear, till you all just disappear Black hole sun, won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun, won't you come Won't you come, won't you come? Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come? Steve Lawrence was the singer, comedian, and actor best known as a member of the group

Steve and Edie. I actually learned about Steve and Edie from an episode of The Simpsons. Edie was Edie Gourmet, and the two performed together until Edie Gourmet's retirement in 2009. On the acting front, Steve Lawrence is best known for his performance as Maury Sline, the manager and friend of the main characters in The Blues Brothers. Steve Lawrence died from complications due to Alzheimer's disease in LA on March 7, 2024. He was 88 years old. I was her, she was me We were one, we were free And if there's somebody calling me on She's the one

If there's somebody calling me on She's the one We were young, we were wrong We were fine, all were lost If there's somebody coming beyond, she's the one When you got to where you wanna go And you know the things you wanna know You're smiling When you said what you wanna say

And you know the way you wanna play You'll be so high, you'll be gone Though the sea will be strong I know we'll carry on She's the one If there's somebody In the audience She's the one When you got the way you wanna go And you know the things you wanna know You're Smiling When you got the way you wanna go, and you know the things you wanna know, you're smiling.

When you said what you wanna say, and you know the way you wanna play, you'll be so how you've been. Carl Wallinger was best known for leading the band World Party and for being a member of the Waterboys. He wrote this song, She's the One, which would be covered by Robbie Williams and became a big hit. Carl Wallinger died from a stroke at his home in England on March 10, 2024. He was only 66 years old. If there's somebody coming beyond She's the one, she's the one If there's somebody coming beyond

She's the one, she's the one If there's somebody coming beyond She's the one, she's the one, she's the one Somebody calling me up She's the one My man, you. I never knew I could feel what you'd be like. Baby please, go away It feels so right Baby we're living tonight Please, go away Just hold me close, don't let me go

The Razzberries go all the way I talked about this on my show today because I didn't want to give away my number one, this is my number two I consider it the greatest power pop song ever written, power pop of course the genre, I think the crew for power pop written power pop of course the genre I think the who for power pop big star the Alex Chilton band I've always been a fan of power pop rather than some of the other more romantic stuff it's hard to believe that this group was out of Cleveland that's Eric Carmen who was lead singer and was the lead of the Razzburys of course all by myself. Right. Patrick Swayze movie, right? Yeah.

Now this song, Go All the Way, if it wasn't, it had to be in Guardians of the Galaxy on his mixtape. It had to be. It's just one of those 70s songs that I forget the character's name in Guardians, Space Man or whatever, Space Traveler. This is a song that takes me back to 1974 and you know those hot and heavy makeup sessions on the couch you know. Of course. I wasn't sexually active in terms of like going all the way at the time but the whole idea and

the lyric of she's telling me to go all the way but I don't know what to do. What goes where? So it's just a... I don't know. I put together a bit of a joyous list today. That's so unlike me, Michael. You know, I often say you learn a lot about somebody having them talk about why they love the songs they love. Sometimes that cheerful, happy-go-lucky person brings songs like they're all suicide anthems. Yeah, I know but and it doesn't necessarily mean that they you know it's just it touches them in a certain way. This song just I don't know it's just got that

mojo it's still good and I still can't believe it's Eric Carmen. Hungry eyes oh man I remember that one. I have a friend that's his cell phone ring tune from his wife. Oh, that's great. Sorry, Ryan. The raspberries are, speaking of obscurity, you don't hear much about the raspberries these days. Like, I mean, I read and listen to a lot of stuff about greatest bands of this, that, and the other,

and the raspberries are overlooked. They flamed. I think they were done by, well, when did All By Myself come out, like 76? They were done by then. They were huge in Cleveland and of course Cleveland has the rock and roll reputation and some great music stations at the time. And they made a few appearances on the Mike Douglas show and some of those 70s staples, Merv Griffin and then Eric became solo artist and did okay by himself.

That all by myself is speaking of guilty pleasures. Like I shouldn't be singing this at the top of my lungs, but you really can't help it. Yeah. As long as you got the car windows up so no one else can hear you, but I hear you brother. That's right. That was Mike Stafford on episode 265 of Toronto Miked, recorded in September 2017.

And he kicked out the jams with me. That means we played and discussed his 10 favorite songs of all time. The Razz Berries with Go All The Way was his second favorite song of all time, and as Mike mentioned, the lead singer of the Razz Berries was no other than Eric Carman. Eric Carman was the lead singer for the Razz Berries before he went solo and had hits like All By Myself, Never Gonna Fall in Love Again, She Did It, hungry eyes, and make me lose control. Eric Carman died on March 11th 2024. He was 74 years old. Here and now let's get this fate Boogaloo baby, I made it fake Because I gave it all I can be You know child, I'm kinda hard to be

Just commence your feet to skate Pick up your arms and make it shake Baby if you think you're shy Do me a favor honey, go someplace and hide Make it I forgot to do a minute break I like it like that And I want it like that I've got the soul, I've got the spirit I like it like that I like it like that

I said I like it like that I like it like that I like it like that Stomp your feet if you think I'm mean Clap your hands if you want some more Stomp your feet if you think I'm mean Clap your hands if you want some more I like it like that I like it like that I like it like that I like it like that I want it like that I said I like it like that Give it to me, throw it to me, give it to me

I like it like that I said I like it like that I've got the soul, I've got the beat I like it like that I've got the soul, I've got the beat I like it like that I've got the soul, baby look at me I said I like it like that I like it like that Pump your feet and put the gun in Clap your hands if you want some more Pump your feet and put the gun in Clap your hands if you want some more Hey! Wow!

Say that again! Say that again! Who do you want man? Give me my wife Pop your face Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho Whoa, look out, I'm coming out Yeah, ho You're looking good now Let me feel you so Listen to me, don't be shy Join the party, say like I say

Like this, see, you ready now? Yeah! Okay, I like it, I like it, I like it like that I like it, I like it, I like it like that I like it, I like it, I like it like that I like it, I like it, I like it like that! I like it, I like it, I like it like that! I like it, I like it, I like it like that! I like it, I like it, I like it like that! Pete Rodriguez was a pianist and band leader whose most successful song was, I Like It Like That, which was recently covered by Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin on their hit, I Like It. Pete Rodriguez died on March 11, 2024. He was 89 years old. I had you to myself, I didn't want you around Those pretty faces always made you stand out in the crowd

But someone kicked you from the bunch, and one glance was all it took Now it's much too late for me to take a second look Oh baby give me one more chance Don't you see that dream That's in your heart Oh darling I was blind, let's go But now since I see you It is all out to you now Ooh ooh baby, yeah yeah yeah yeah Na na na na

Trying to live without your love One long sleepless night Let me show you girl That I don't want to rise Every street you walk in I lay ten times on the ground Follow with the girl I can even all around Let me see my home, baby, all I need is one more chance

Show me the look, won't you please let me in Back to your heart, oh darling, I was glad to let you go Let you go, baby, but now that I see you, it is on Sandra Crouch was best known for gospel music. She won a Grammy Award in 1984 for best soul gospel performance female. But if you're listening to the Jackson Fives, I Want You Back, or ABC, you'll hear Sandra Crouch playing the tambourine. That's right, the tambourine you hear in this song was performed by Sandra Crouch playing the tambourine. That's right, the tambourine you hear in this song was performed by Sandra Crouch, who passed away on March 17th, 2024 at the age of 81. I've been wasted I've been drowned in your arms, I can't run With both legs broken on the ground

I paint her face on every wall I shout her name down empty halls And I'm going right out, right out of my head Going right out, ride out of my head How many lies does it take for a woman to change her oil and find her brains? The words we use, the chosen few, The question risen, what a way to do And I'm going right out, right out of my head Going right out, right out of my head Going right out, right out of my head

Going right out, right out of my head I'll have my head on the table In the night sky, we have tiny grounds that tall and brainwashed Lazy neighbors driving down the cars I've been your face, I've seen your house I want to see you, to shut your mouth And I'm going right out, right out of my head Going right out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head

Go ride out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head Go ride out, ride out my head This one hits a lot closer to home. Rusty Wilson was a founding member of Junkhouse. And I just saw him on stage at the Horseshoe Tavern in December. Russ was a great musician with a tremendous presence and a hell of a bassist. Russ died at home on March 12, 2024, at the young age of 62. I would love to hear your memories and your thoughts about the passing of Roy McMurtry, who as you wrote on the tvo.org website, was one of Ontario's most influential attorneys general.

A lot of people might tell you he attorney generals, but you know better. It is attorneys general. Tell me about Roy McMurtry. Thank you for the chance to do this because Roy McMurtry truly was one of the greatest public servants I ever met in my life. And I first met him again, we're going back more than 40 years. Roy McMurtry's a great story for a whole bunch of reasons. He was good, but he was also lucky. One way in which he was lucky is that he grew up in a nice family in Toronto, went to good schools, went to the University of Toronto, played for the U of T varsity blues football

team, and one of the other guys on that football team was a guy named… Bill Davis! You got it right. You got it right. So, of course, Bill Davis and he are lifelong friends. Mr. Davis becomes Premier in 1971. Strangely enough, Roy McMurtry did not work for him during that election campaign or the previous leadership convention which picked Mr. Davis, because he had terrible back problems

at the time. So, he was actually in hospital when all of that was happening, recovering from surgery. But he performed a singularly important role after the 1971 Leadership Convention, which picked Bill Davis, because I know everybody thinks of Bill Davis today, to the extent that they do, as kind of this legendary figure in Ontario and Canadian history. But the fact is, he won his Leadership Convention by 44 votes at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1971. It was an absolute nail-biter. After the convention was over, there were a lot of hard feelings between the guys who

came first and the guys who came second. Roy McMurtry was the guy who got both camps together at the National Club in downtown Toronto on Bay Street and basically said, �Look, we got to put this party back together because there's going to be an election later this year, and we need everybody rowing in the same direction.î And he did that. And the both sides did come together to create, I guess not to create, to continue the Big Blue Machine, which was such an excellent, election-winning machine in Ontario political

history for the Tories, and so it went. Strangely enough, Mike, when Roy McMurtry was then asked to contest a by-election, his health got better, he was asked to contest a by-election in downtown Toronto in 1973, and even though he was a big friend of Bill Davis's and he was a well-known lawyer and sort of like an up-and-coming guy, he lost. It was a shocking upset. There was a woman on Toronto City Council named Margaret Campbell who defeated him. It could well have been that Mr. McMurtry would have decided at that moment, �Well

I guess politics isn't for me and I'm not going to try again.� But his old pal Bill Davis said, �No, you've got to try again. And he did in the general election two years later. And he won that time, served for the next 10 years, and was arguably the most influential attorney general in Ontario history. And if you want, throw in a question and let me take a pause. Yeah, take a pause. And talk about something you did.

Because I'll say yes. And I got a few notes of things I want to cover here. But I will say, and don't do this, but if you put a gun to my head right now and said, Mike, who's our attorney general right now? I actually don't know. I feel like … Mike, that's not unusual. I'm glad you made this point because I think back in the day, you knew who the attorney

general of Ontario was, mostly because he was either the second or third most influential or important powerful minister in the cabinet, that's number one. And number two, because Roy McMurtry's nickname was Roy McHeadline. And he got that nickname from a journalist at Queens Park named Claire Hoy, because Mr. McMurtry championed a lot of very, very controversial issues. And, like, okay, you and I are sports fans, so let's start there. Okay, well, I'll set this up because I think I know where you're going, but I watched last night my beloved Toronto-made beliefs lose to the Philadelphia Flyers,

a far cry from the Broad Street bullies of the 1970s. But I was reading in what you wrote about Roy McMurtry, did he lay charges against members of the Broad Street Bullies? That's exactly right the Broad Street Bullies as they remember This is this is a time when goon hockey is sort of in ascension The Flyers have won two Stanley Cups in the middle 70s playing this kind of goon hockey Although they did have some wonderfully talented players, you know, Rick McLeish Reggie leach Bobby Clark But mostly they were known for their goonery.

They came to Maple Leaf Gardens and things just went off the rails. Just a crazy, crazy night, and Roy McMurtry, who played hockey incidentally, played pick-up hockey in his 50s, not just football, but hockey as well, he decided this cannot stand. He had charges laid against I think Mad Dog Kelly Battleship Bob Kelly, I think against Don Sileski might have been another guy who was charged I'm going by memory here from right from almost 50 years ago and Like Boria Solming got that got the absolute you-know-what knocked out of him that night, but you're gonna swear again Yeah, it was just appalling. The whole night was appalling.

And anyway, charges were laid and Roy McMurtry sort of felt it was an obligation of his to kind of clean up hockey because it was so disgusting at the time. But I think the thing he's going to, two things I think he's going to be best known for. Number one, he was part of that team Ontario in 1981 that worked with the current Prime Minister's father to repatriate the Constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There's this great story about where he and Saskatchewan Attorney General Roy Romano and the Canadian Attorney General Jean Chrétien are all in this kitchen in the government conference center where the negotiations are taking part, and they're up there late one

night and the thing is falling off the rails. It looks like the whole thing is going to fall apart. These guys figured out a way to come up with a compromise to make it all happen. I think they get a lot of kudos, certainly the first ministers do, but they get a lot of kudos for keeping the thing alive and finding a way through that. The other thing is, Roy McMurtry had the authority in cabinet by virtue of his friendship with Bill Davis and his excellence as an attorney general to unilaterally make the decision to make the courts in Ontario bilingual, where numbers warranted. You have to remember, we're talking 50 years ago now, almost 50 years ago, where let's

say you were a unilingual francophone living in Sudbury, Ontario, and you've been charged with something. You couldn't have a trial in one of the official languages of Canada. You have to maybe, who knows, drive three hours to a more remote French community to be able to find a French judge to hear your case in. And Mr. McMurtry, without telling his premier, unilaterally announced that he was going to make the courts bilingual.

And I remember asking him, why did you do that? Why didn't you give Bill Davis a heads up on that? And his answer was, I knew I'd never get it through cabinet. The Tory core of the province and the party never would have gone for it. So I just said, I'm going to do it and I'll beg for forgiveness rather than permission and I won't tell the premier and if he feels he needs to fire me as a result, he can have the plausible deniability of not knowing ahead of time what I was going to do. I think he pretty much knew that Bill Davis was not going to fire fire him but he definitely put their friendship to the test with that one and his policy of

Bilingualism in the courts exists to this day. So that was a real nation-building move Wow and to go back to the the previous story you told they were known as the three amigos of the Constitution and you did have you did have them all together in 2012 That was the 30th anniversary of that achievement and you got to interview them all together at that point, right? That was a lovely lovely night. You know that what was interesting about that about that trio those three amigos McMurtry was a progressive conservative. Romano was a New Democrat. Kretchen was a liberal Kretchen came to Ottawa in the early 1960s as a unilingual francophone. McMurtry and Romano didn't speak any French.

These guys came from extremely different backgrounds. Like McMurtry, as I said, came up in kind of landed gentry, you know, Toronto, Upper Canada College, all that kind of stuff. Sean Cratchan, you know from rural Quebec, Roy McMurtry, you know come up from a farming, Ukrainian farming community in Saskatchewan. These guys had nothing in common except a love of Canada. And except a deep desire not to have these talks fail and to get the job done. And they established, I mean they're a great template for what's possible when you put the BS of party stripe and other stuff aside and just do the people's business.

It's one of the great examples in Canadian history of that very philosophy and principle. Wow. So again, we sadly lost Roy McMurtry at the age of 91. Just a couple of days ago, he was Ontario's attorney general from 1975 to 1985. But as you know, because you listened, I had Peter Kent on the program very recently to talk about the late Brian Mulrooney after his passing. And one of the topics we discussed was Mulrooney's role in, you know, his influence with Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, on the issue of ending apartheid in South Africa. And as I'm reading your piece about Roy McMurtry,

it's interesting that I learned that Brian Mulrooney appointed Mr. McMurtry, High Commissioner, to the United Kingdom, and he played a role in all that. Am I right? Absolutely. Mr. Mulroney, High Commissioner in the UK is basically our ambassador. It's the same thing. After Mr. McMurtry ran in the leadership convention to replace Bill Davis in 1985 and actually came last on the first ballot, he just didn't have the support, Mr. Mulroney came in and said, I'm giving you a mission, because they've been longtime

friends, I'm giving you a mission, I'm sending you over to represent Canada in the United Kingdom. And yes, Mr. McMurtry was Mr. Mulroney's point man in England to work on ending apartheid in South Africa. And Mr. McMurtry has over the years told me numerous stories about how he and Margaret Thatcher tangled at the time over this issue. They had some nice moments, but they had some very tough tense moments on this as well. Interestingly enough, Mike, one of the things that Mr. Mulroney thought he had from Mr.

McMurtry was an undertaking after his term in Britain was over, to run for him in the 1988 election. And Mr. McMurtry never thought he gave that undertaking. There was some kind of really bad miscommunication between the two of them on that issue. And when Mr. McMurtry's time in England was over and he came back to Canada, and Mr. Mulroney called him and said, �Okay, so I guess per our agreement, you'll now stand for me in this 88 election in Toronto.� Mr. McMurtry said, �Well, no, I'm going to go practice law.

I don't know what you're talking about.� I don't know who's right, I don't know who's wrong. Obviously, a terrible case of broken telephone, but Mr. Mulroney was so upset with him that he didn't speak to him for the next two and a half years, and their friendship really went through a bad patch there. The good news is that through the intervention of some people like Bob Ray, who had become Premier of Ontario by 1990, Bob Ray kind of made some intrigues with Brian Mulroney to say, �Hey, come on, you've got to bury the hatchet here.

Roy McMurtry wants to be a judge. He'd be a fantastic judge. You should appoint him.� Mr. Mulroney did. I remember Mr. McMurtry telling me this story. Prime Minister calls him up one day, and it's like the two and a half years never happened. He just picks up right from where he left off, the Irish charm comes forward, �Roy, how are you? How's Raya, your wife?

How are the kids doing?� And he appoints him to the Superior Court of Ontario, and eventually Mr. McMurtry becomes the Chief Justice of the highest court in Ontario, the Court of Appeal, and remains to this day one of the highest court in Ontario, the Court of Appeal, and remains to this day one of only two people in Ontario history to be both Attorney General and Chief Justice of the High Court. So he's in pretty select company. Who's the other person? The other guy's a guy by the name of Dana Porter, who did both jobs in the 40s and 50s,

and his son Julian Porter is still around in Toronto in his late 80s practicing law and actually ran in that 1985 election for the Progressive Conservatives and did not win, but is a great Canadian. When was the last time you had the pleasure of speaking with your friend Roy McMurtry? I called him about a week and a half ago, and I wanted to talk to him about this issue of Premier Doug Ford saying that he wanted to appoint quote unquote, like-minded judges. And I thought I'd see if I could get a comment from Mr. McMurtry about that and what he thought about that.

So, we were on the phone one day and he said, well, come on over. So I did. I think I just went over the next day, we had a great visit and that was on March the 7th. Wow. I don't know. What's the date today? 20th.

March 20th. Okay, so not that less than two weeks ago. And I am just, I'm so grateful that through just sheer dumb luck, I managed to get that last visit in less than two weeks ago. We had a lovely visit. He was hurting. He was 91, in failing health. He really had a hard time walking.

He spent most of his days, he lived in a senior's residence now, he spent most of his days in bed because he really couldn't get up and move all that well. But he was still sharp, Mike. Gosh, I remember two visits ago, I remember going over with a group of two or three other people and they were lawyers and they were all reminiscing about a case that took place in Windsor 40 years ago. And one of the guys could not remember the name of the lawyer that he was up against in that

particular case that they were talking about. 91-year-old Roy McMurtry lying down in his bed, not seeming to be kind of all there, all of a sudden throws out the name of the other lawyer. He remembered, and nobody else in the room could remember. He remembered the lawyer of a case in Windsor 40 plus years ago that he had no business remembering, but he was still absolutely sharp with a great memory of all of the stuff that he'd dealt with in his life. That's one of the reasons I love to go visit him.

He loved to tell the old stories and I love to hear them. That was Steve Pagan talking to me on episode 1454 of Toronto Miked. We of course were talking about his late great friend, Roy McMurtry. In that conversation, we alluded to a conversation I had with Peter Kent about Brian Mulrooney. Brian Mulrooney passed away very late in February 2024. But here's my conversation with Peter on episode 1446 of Toronto Mic'd as we discussed Canada's 18th Prime Minister. new Canadians and old, and we are going to make a commitment to unity, to change, to growth and prosperity that's going to mean new days and new hopes and better tomorrows for all Canadians.

You don't have a monopoly on patriotism, and I resent the fact that your implication that only you are a Canadian. If Canada, middle power, doesn't stand for human rights, the defence of human rights and individual liberties, then what do we stand for? All I'm concerned about is making certain that Canada turns out to have been on the right side of history. I today, sir, as a Canadian, believe genuinely in what I am doing. I believe it is right for Canada. I believe that in my own modest way I am nation building because I believe this benefits Canada and I love Canada.

I'm very interested in your thoughts about our 18th Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, because not only did you cover him as a journalist, but then later you became a member of parliament for the party that replaced Mulroney's progressive conservative party. I'm wondering, do you remember your first meeting with Brian Mulroney? Yes, and that goes back to the 1970s when I was CTV's Quebec bureau chief working out of Montreal. And Brian was a lawyer, an emerging labor lawyer, and had been appointed by the Barassa government, by Premier Barassa, to head the Clich commission into corruption in the labor industry. I mean, we didn't have a deep meeting then, but we covered the hearings, and have a deep meeting then, but we covered the hearings. And Mr. Mulrooney was a star every night

on both French and English television. He was perfectly bilingual and comfortable and available to wall to talk about the process. So I got to know him and then later when he ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party at the big convention in 1976, when there were 11 candidates in the running, got to know quite a bit better by doing profiles on

each of the leaders and spending a little time. It was one of those classic, old time delegated conventions where you could spend time with not only the leader, but his supporters and his colleagues and his behind the scenes fellows. And it was a great convention. He finished third behind Claude Wagner and Joe Clark, of course, won and briefly became prime minister after that. And then there was another convention in 1983 when Pierre Trudeau stepped down. And Brian came back and ran again, ran again against Joe Clark, who had agreed to a convention,

even though he had two thirds support of the party, but Brian prevailed and won. And these two rivals became, if not close friends, they became very close colleagues and worked together during the Mulroney government years. Now, I'm curious, you know, I want to know what you thought of Brian Mulroney as a person, as a human, and then also as our prime minister, but I'll just interject here to say that

I wasn't alive for the 1972 summit series, Canada versus Russia. I know you're wondering, Mike, where are you going with this? Okay. But there was a documentary series I recorded to VHS and I want to some point in the 1980s, it was called Summit on Ice. And I remember I watched it because I was fascinated. Even though I wasn't born, I was fascinated by this series, just the eight games. I mean, come on the drama there wow but there's a scene in when the game was at the forum in Montreal you can see clearly Brian Mulroney and his wife Mila walking to their seats to watch that hockey game at the Montreal forum so just I'm just since we're you know leaving Brian in the 70s and we're going to talk about Brian in the 80s I'll just say that absolutely there absolutely there's footage of Brian and Mila attending that Canada-Russia

game at the Forum. Well, no, absolutely. And he was greatly loved by many, criticized by others. When he was first elected in 1984, he carried rock star status. He had a huge majority and he had exceptional numbers in Quebec. So the Quebec, Quebecers at that point adored him. And he was a, he was a celebrity. You said you asked earlier the difference between Brian as a as a man as an individual and as the prime minister. Yes. He was a charmer. He was an optimist about just about everything. He had a temper. He could he could certainly get angry and passionate about things

he believed in and against people who disagreed with him. But he was a charmer. And you know, a lot of people think that he lost the leadership in 1976 because the grassroots thought he was too slick. They thought he was too smooth. He thought, you know, that he was, he was all charm and Blarney, the Irish personality, and the competence wasn't there. And that's why they looked at Claude Wagner and at Joe Clark. But that charm, as everyone saw in the 80s after he became prime minister in 84, wasn't a veneer. He had charm, but he also had great talents. He took on huge challenges and he wanted,

when he became prime minister, he didn't coast. He immediately began shaking things up and delivering on big projects, big changes to Canada domestically and internationally that he had been thinking about and was cultivating all through those years in the 70s as he emerged as a labor lawyer and then an emerging politician. Let's touch, if you don't mind, let's touch on some of these bigger projects. When we look back at Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister, he served as our 18th Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993. I mean, there are so many places I want to go here, but maybe we start with free trade.

You were covering this, of course, as a journalist, but tell me about Brian Mulroney and free trade? Well, first of all, much of Brian's time in government, I was out of the country. But I was following it from the United States and from Europe. My last job at CBC's The Journal in 1984, before I returned to NBC in the States, was to do a post-election biography, mini biography of Brian and the family and his background, which was fun.

Again, that was a lot of fun after he was elected, but then I was gone. So I observed the free trade debate, the evolution of free trade from the United States. And it was interesting because Brian had the good fortune to be prime minister at the same time that there were two like-minded leaders in the United States, Ronald Reagan, and in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.

So a lot of what he accomplished internationally, whether it be free trade, which I think is histheid efforts convincing Mrs. Thatcher that it was time to sanction South Africa for apartheid, acid rain convincing Ronald Reagan that acid rain needed to be addressed, the Montreal Protocol to get rid of the hydrofluorocarbons that were causing the hole in the ozone layer. All of these things that he achieved internationally were partially enabled or, well, they were enabled by that relationship with President Reagan, first of all, and with Prime Minister Thatcher. And he could be very persuasive, whether it was singing Irish Eyes or smiling,

you know, that famous, that famous, I still get a little emotional when I see that. ["I Will Always Love You"] I'll be there for you, I'll be there for you I'll be there for you, I'll be there for you I'll be there for you, I'll be there for you Sure they'd steal your heart away And Brian's eulogy at the Reagan funeral, you know, there was political camaraderie, but there was also deep trust and friendship. Could we revisit that? You mentioned, you know, Brian Mulrooney's fight against South African apartheid.

Looking back, you know, now it's like, oh, wow, there was a time when, you know, Margaret Thatcher needed convincing on this matter. But can you give a little context to the younger listeners as to how important Brian Mulrooney's stance was there in the fight against apartheid in South Africa? Well, it was very important. And Margaret Thatcher was not initially prepared to act on South Africa. Great Britain as the head of the Commonwealth. I believe I understand.

I mean, I was NBC's chief European correspondent in London at the times. And I went to Downing Street for briefings by her communications guy once a month. And their focus was more on managing the relationship than isolating South Africa. And they were persuaded by Mr. Mulroney, by Brian. And basically, I forget the line, I don't have the quote in my back pocket, but it was something to the effect that Brian said,

history will remember your position on this issue. And not long after that, Margaret Thatcher came onside. Well, this speaks to the man's humanity, because I'm trying to understand, you know, Brian Mulrooney, the man, and his, you know, by a succession of prime ministers through the through the 80s into the 90s. And and and still today he was recognized by the with a Herzl Foundation honor just, I believe, last year, maybe two years ago, for his consistency in supporting the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself. When Joe Clark was his foreign minister, the two of them disagreed. Joe was a little more sympathetic to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians at the time. And I remember doing a fireside chat with Brian a couple of years ago at a fundraiser for one of his former chiefs of staff, Stanley Hart. And basically he reminded the room that he

prevailed over Joe's tendency to want to tilt more towards Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian side. So he was, yeah, no, he was a, he had great environmental beliefs, he had great humanitarian views, he had a real feeling for justice, social justice, I believe. And it was interesting to see him take on some fights, unpopular fights in which he eventually prevailed. John Crosby, who ran against him in the leadership in 84, had originally been for free trade, and Brian had been against free trade before his election. And there's another line, again, I'm not very good at accurate quotes, but there's a line that John had been saying in his sort of forceful way, you got to, you know, it's time to get into the world, to recognize international trade and to, with our largest trade partner, have a treaty on freer trade. And Brian came back with a line about the Canada and the elephant and basically said,

if the elephant ever rolls over on trade, we're done. But he changed his mind. That wasn't the big issue in the 84 election. They had had that disagreement in the leadership. But as we saw, he became a passionate champion of free trade and realized that it was time. And it changed the Canadian economy in any number, as the GST did at the same time. So a formidable guy who took on really big challenges and important challenges for Canada and for Canada's relationship with the

world. And he prevailed. Oh, you said the G word. Is that a word? It's not really a word, but GST. I was going to ask you about that because, of course, as I recall, and again, you were out of the country watching, monitoring things very closely, of course, but didn't Kretschen run on reversing the GST? This was in the Red Book, is that right? John Turner. Well, John Turner. Okay. And then Kretzschian in the election.

He was critical of the GST because it was very unpopular. But he backed away from eliminating it, and he took full advantage for the early years of the Chrétien government to reap the huge windfall. The GST was actually a larger tax than was necessary to reduce the GST, and it brought in an abundance of tax dollars. And it helped Jean-Cretien and his finance minister and the government, Paul Martin, to reduce the deficit. But then it was time to reduce the GST. And as we saw, it was reduced somewhat.

And then of course, it was reduced somewhat. And then, of course, Prime Minister Harper took it down significantly. And today we have the HST, which replaced the harmonized tax, which replaced the goods and service, the original goods and service tax. Okay. So we've discussed a lot of the pros here. We talked about free trade, we talked about GST, we talked about his humanity, particularly his fight against South African apartheid, and of course, acid rain and, and these other wonderful measures that we look at positively. But let's just address the fact that in 1995, the RCMP accused Brian Mulroney of accepting kickbacks on

the sale of Airbus airplanes to the government-owned airline during his time as prime minister. What are your thoughts on those allegations, those serious allegations that were made in the mid-90s? Well, it was a scandal. Brian was, as all of us are, an imperfect man. His first term in office from 84 to 88, because the conservatives were coming to power

with very little experience in the previous decade and a half of being in government, and there were scandals. He appointed a number of friends who led him down. And there were a number of scandals, none of which involved him. But they reflected badly on his leadership as prime minister. Still, he was re-elected in 88.

And there was the purchase of the of the of the AirBuses for for Air Canada. And it came to light that there had been after he left office some dealings with a German lobbyist for who the Airbusbus sale who had delivered large amounts of money in paper bags to Mr. Karlheinz Schreiber was the guy's name. The RCMP never found anything material in the 90s, but in the 2000s, after the turn of the century, there was a judicial inquiry as further information had become available. And there was a judicial inquiry. Mr. Justice Oliphant, I think, was the judge. And there were some very embarrassing details that came out in that inquiry about the paper bags of money.

And there was disagreement over between Karlheinz Schreiber's testimony and Mr. Mulroney's testimony over how much money had been involved. Two hundred thousand dollars or three hundred thousand dollars, I think. And the judge criticized a number of some of the testimony from Brian. But at the same time, when the inquiry was over, he found that there was no criminal wrongdoing. And I think the line, again, I'm not good on precise quotes, but he said something to the effect that Mr. Brian Mulrooney had broken his own personal ethical code, but hadn't committed a criminal offense. Still, it was a stain and it was a mistake and it was

it reflected again human fallibility. But I think that Brian Mulroney's accomplishments through his life, both in and out of office, far outweigh the negatives and, say, the Airbus scandal. Now, Peter, you might not be great at precise quotes, but what a fantastic memory. So you make up for the, you have a fantastic memory. The reason we are friends today, Peter, is because of Banjo, Dunk and Framlin. That's right.

Had lunch with him yesterday. Oh, okay. He sent a note last night. Maybe he got inspired by having lunch with you. He wrote- I told him I was going to chat with you. Okay. There you go. Because he wrote on my first thing you notice banjo dunk has to promote a sub stack page. So he writes on my sub stack page and then he wants you to know it's banjo dunk

dot sub stack.com. And I'll just tell the listenership dunk is with a C as in Duncan. So everybody go subscribe banjo dunk at sub stack. Sorry,, BanjoDunk.Substack.com. I got to get it right or Dunk will be mad at me. But he writes, I wrote about my one and only encounter with Brian Mulrooney in 2017 at the Hall of Fame event. The story is about Stomp and Tom Connors and Brian Mulrooney, his least favorite prime minister. My question for Peter, did Brian have a sense of humor? He had a great sense of humor, but I think Duncan,

as he recounted over Singapore noodles yesterday at lunch, when he confronted him in that situation, Brian must've been preoccupied with something else because he was not amused according to Duncan. And I certainly have no reason not to accept Duncan's side of that story. But oh yeah, I know Brian had a great sense of humor. But in this case, it didn't reveal itself to Duncan. You knew he had a decent sense of humor when he's singing, when Irish eyes are smiling

there with Ronald Reagan. I mean, there's a good clue right there that he can roll with it. Well, and he was self-deprecating in a lot of ways. When I was in government, when I was the junior foreign minister, the minister for the Americas. I invited him with some criticism from some of my caucus colleagues at the time, because it was so close to the end of the Oliphant Inquiry. But I invited him to foreign affairs and we celebrated the 20th anniversary

of Brian leading Canada in 1990 into the Organization of American States, which was important for Canada. I mean, it's our hemisphere. They are our neighbors. Canada has great interests throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, the Central and South America. And he came to that event. He glad-handed all of the ambassadors who were there. And then he spoke passionately about the importance of the treaty, about belonging to the Organization of American States, and of all of the things we need to do to develop the economy

and promote democracy in those states, member states that are less than fully democratic. And I mean, he was the star that night. Lawrence Cannon, who was the minister, spoke and was, as always, was eloquent and the OAS ministers all spoke, but Brian again stole the show. He had a great sense of humor. The Stanley Hart, one of his chiefs of staff used to say, Brian had a talent for hiring smart people, for making smart, bringing smart people into the circle. And he brought Stanley in and Stanley joked and was part of all of the big initiatives

that Brian embraced. But Stanley said, I make the snowballs and Brian throws them. And Brian was generous in saying, yeah, I didn't do this on my own. I was surrounded by people who were smart, who had talent. And then I got to carry the ball and got either the approval or the disapproval,

depending on how the day went. And of course, when he left office, his poll numbers were terrible. 10 years for a prime minister, he didn't quite make 10 years, almost nine years, or just over nine years. 10 years is sort of the best-by date for a prime minister. Some of them were a little earlier.

I won't go further with that. But yeah, when he left office, he was not loved or adored as he was when he came into office in 84. But that, again, in the 30 years since, more than 30 years, he has again been embraced. And as we saw, at his at his unfortunate passing, there was he was on the front page of all the newspapers across political stripes, and recognized for the great things he had done for Canada. Absolut is going to ask you about your relationship with Brian as an MP, but it sounds like it was great.

It was good. Well, both as a junior foreign affairs minister, which I would have stayed in forever and in my slightly more challenging two and a half years as environment minister. He was always available and encouraging to get us to go the extra mile. He had the reputation, as you know, of Canada's greenest prime minister, acid rain, Montreal Protocol, ozone, so forth. He was encouraging, he was supportive, and I enjoyed those times in government when we did have the opportunity to chat. Now, late last year I was preparing actually for his son Ben to visit the basement here, and around that time, Brian came out in great support of Pierre Poliev.

Again, I can't remember the exact line either, but it was quite glowing. When was the last time you, Peter, spoke to Brian Mulrooney? The last time that we spoke was at length. The last time was when we did our fireside chat for Stanley Hart at a downtown Toronto hotel with, he drew a huge audience and folks who graciously gave for the Stanley Hart Education Foundation. And we had a great chat before and after, but the paths didn't cross in, I guess,

the year and a half since his health deteriorated somewhat. You mentioned Ben Mulrooney. He gave a wonderful interview last night on global television, global national, eloquent, articulate, loving. And anybody who, I'm quite sure that's somewhere up on the global website, who has time to drop in and take a look at that, it really captured the family side of Brian Mulroney. Robert Leonard Right, because you and I are speaking of Canada's 18th Prime Minister, and Ben will speak about daddy. It's a completely different perspective. Absolutely right. And I hope that Ben is among those who will speak

at the state funeral, because as Justin did at Pierre's funeral, and I remember covering that funeral live in Montreal in the day. It's important to hear from family. The measure of the man by family is always hopefully heartwarming and insightful. Robert Leonard Peter, thanks for speaking with me today about Brian Mulrooney. I appreciate this.

No, anytime. Always, always good to jam. And one of these days we have to get going on music. One of the times we as I slowly increase my fumbling proficiency with a bass guitar.

I can't wait for Peter Kent in the basement, kicking out the jams later in 2024. Thanks Peter. All the best. Thanks Mike. I I know where you can get those frames. Why'd you take these? What do you mean? Just doing my job? You called me.

I knew they were there. Why'd you take them? Well, I don't know. Call it a fringe benefit. How long you watch him? Most of the night. They rest every few minutes and they get started again. Quite some. You know, in Greece, they would cut off the head of the messenger that brought the bad news.

That don't make much sense. No. Made them feel better. Well, first off, Julian, I don't know what the story is in Greece, but in this state we got very definite laws of all things. Second, I'm not a messenger, I'm a private investigator. And third, most important, it ain't such bad news. I mean, you thought he was a coward.

You're always assuming the worst. Anything else? Don't come around here anymore. If I need you, I'll know what rock to turn over. That's good. What rock to turn over. That's very, very good. You gave me a call whenever you want to cut off my head. I can always crawl around without it. M. Emmett Walsh was a beauty.

He was the veteran character actor who appeared in more than 150 films, including Blade Runner, Blood Simple, and Knives Out. M. Emmett Walsh died of cardiac arrest in Vermont on March 19, 2024, three days before his 89th birthday. what I'm seeing. Well you've been all your lives at an orgy listening to Mick Jagger music and bad mouth in your country I'll bet. You better stop eyeballing me boy. You're not worthy enough to look your superiors in the eye. Use your peripheral vision. Understand? Yes sir. Now every time I say understand I want the whole group to say, yes, sir. Understand. Yes, sir.

Understand. Yes, sir. Now I know why most of you are here. We're not stupid. Before you get to sell what we teach you over at United Airlines, you've got to give the Navy six years of your life, sweet pea. Lots of things can happen in six years. Another war can come up in six years of your life, sweet pea. Not a thing can happen in six years. Another war can come up in six years.

And if you're too peaceful a person, too don't napalm on enemy village where there might be women and children. I'm gonna find that out. Understand? Yes, sir. Understand! Yes, sir!

Hi, son. How you doing, Sarge? What'd you call me? Beg your pardon? What did you call me, boy? I called you Sarge. Before that. I didn't call you anything before that. You said, how are you?

I am not a you, boy. A you as a female sheep, boy. Is that what you think I am, boy? No. No, sir? No, sir. La that what you think I am, boy? No. No, sir? No, sir. Lauda, sweet pea. No, sir!

Hey, you wanna fuck me up the ass? Is that what you call me, a you, boy? You a queer? Hell no, sir. Where are you from, boy? Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, sir. Ah. Only two things come out of Oklahoma.

Steers and queer. Which one of you, boy? I don't see no horns. So you must be a queer. No, sir. Stop whispering, sweet Peter. You're giving me a hard time. No, sir.

Sir! Are you laughing at me, dick brain? No sir! Lewis Gossett Jr. was the first black man to win a supporting actor Oscar for that role in An Officer and a Gentleman. He also won an Emmy Award for his role in the seminal TV mini-series Roots. But you may know him best from the Iron Eagle film series where he played Colonel Chappie Sinclair. Lewis Gossett Jr. died in Santa Monica, California on on March 29th, 2024. He was 87 years old.

Brown pushed it around the net for Reekley. And the capitals looking a little better now in the second period. Good event for Hunter to give chase. Went in after Erickson, but the big defenseman moved away from him. And he missed the hit. They keep it on the line though.

Brown shot, rebound, score! The Washington Capitals have taken the lead for the first time in the series with Simon at getting the rebound. Was it Simon or not? I think so. It was a point shot that got through and either Simon or Barube, I guess you're right Bob. Simon, here's the shot, pass was intercepted, it goes to the point. And here's the shot and the rebound comes right out. And there it goes.

Simon, you're right Bob, puts it right over the shoulder of Osgood. Some good work by this line, forechecking to recover the puck. Simon goes to the net as soon as he sees it goes to the point. He's rewarded with a fat rebound, and this was a real shot. And it stays stuck in the net, so the goal judge doesn't have to make it a save. Chris Simon was drafted in the second round of the 1990 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, but he was traded as part of the Erik Lindrass trade to the Quebec Nordiques. During his NHL career, he also played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Washington

Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Minnesota Wild. He won the Stanley Cup of Colorado in 1996. Chris Simon died on March 18, 2024, at the age of 52. This has been the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial episode of Toronto Mic'd for the month of March 2024. If you lost somebody you love in March, my sincere condolences. Peace and love to all. So So I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be the one to tell you that I'm gonna be So You