Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Susan Bonner: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1900

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

In this 1900th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Susan Bonner about her 41 years at CBC, her recent retirement and what's next. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Hello, I'm Susan Bonner. I have recently left the CBC after 41 years. I'm not going to use the word retire because I plan to keep working. We can talk about that because I'm excited to be making my Toronto Mike debut. Welcome to episode 1,000 in 900, 1900 of Toronto Mic. An award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great LakesBeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. You never had to do ad reads on the CBC, did you?

I did not, no. And let's hope none of my colleagues that remained have to do that either. Right. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pits this summer.

No ticket required. Fusion Corp's own Nick Aienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline. And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle MyElectronics.C.A. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921.

Joining me today, making her Toronto Mike debut, It is indeed. Don't call her retired. Susan Bonner. Nice to meet you, Susan. Very nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting me. So do you want to compare notes on our voices off the top here? Because you told me when I met you that you had a like a little something in your throat. I can hear it.

So you just woke up with this? Yeah, I went to bed early last night because I was a little bit nervous about my big interview today. That makes me feel good. And then I woke up in the middle of the night with this kind of funny feeling in my throat. and there it is. I don't know. Maybe it's enhancing my voice. Well, it's not bad at all.

I'll tell you, I'm listening in the headphones and you sound great. It's like, because I subscribe to when it was called the, so it was called The World at Six. Yeah. And then it got rebranded. Yeah. Right. And it's not our choice, by the way.

It was just something that happened as we moved into the world of podcasts. Yeah. But before the rename, I had subscribed to it as a podcast. So I subscribed to it as a podcast. And then on demand, I would listen to the previous evening. So what was the name when you left the CBC? Your world tonight. So was there like a mild revolt when you were told it's going to be rebranded?

Yeah. Yeah, there was. We did not appreciate that. It was one of the oldest news programs on the CBC. You know, it was over 50 years old. And it would hurt. I did not want to be the host of the program that was the last person to say, the world at six. But it turned out I was.

You know, where's the sense of tradition? Like, I feel like people are overthinking things. They're like, well, it's not necessarily six anymore because it's a podcast. You listen when you want. Stop, like, overthinking things. I agree with you. And what we all thought afterwards was your world tonight still has a time stamp of some sort in it. It's tonight.

I listen in the morning. Right. What about me? But the CBC is a big place and the people that make these decisions are not us. And they wanted actually some unity. between all of the newscasts that they were putting into the podcast world in a more formal way. They wanted the hourlys and the morning program and our program to have kind of the same flavor namewise. Gotcha.

By the way, I want to send a message to Neil Hurland, okay, who I know is listening right now. Neil, you promised me you would return in June 2025 to kick out the Pride Month jams. Like he promised me we're going to play his 10 favorite. Pride Month jams. And now I'm just saying June 2026 is around the corner. So Neil Hurland, who I heard last night doing an hourly update, I want you to know we have to schedule a date in June for you to kick out the Pride Month jams. He will do it.

I know Neil. Well, he was his idea. He's a guy, he's a man of his word. And he loves your program. And he will absolutely do it. Neil, I'm ordering you for old time's sake. We worked nights together. I mean, he had to stay a lot longer.

but we were in the same newsroom when it was not very packed in the evenings. Well, I'll do a little impression. I'm Neil Hurland. He's got this distinctive little style that I like to mimic. Yeah, he does. Not great. So back to our voices, though. Okay.

Although, the more we talk, the better we sound. I'm telling you right now. I don't hear it in you at all, actually. Well, have you heard an episode of Toronto Mike before? Yes, of course I have. I never make these assumptions when you big wheels come over. Big wheels. But, like, I woke up a couple of mornings ago, and it was like, I sounded different.

friend. And I noticed because I record every day. So Monday's episode, Tuesday's episode, I can hear it if I listen back. And then I thought, oh, I have it again, but it's much less today. But now I actually, it sounds fairly normal. But when you told me you had the same thing, I felt better because I'm always nervous when you, you know, veteran broadcasters come on the program. Suddenly I need to pretend like I'm a professional when clearly I am not. Can I make a confession to you? I'm ready. I can't, I have a hard time considering myself a veteran broadcaster. I know that's I am. 41 years at the CBC.

Yes. Or that's what I was, I guess. But the thing is that I considered myself a journalist first, and I ended up in television first and then in radio, because the jobs attracted me. So the label of broadcaster, you know, I always associate with those big voices of the past. And I was always nervous about my voice. And I know you hear that from everybody at the CBC. Well, everyone but one guy.

Who I want to shout out now. Okay. Tom Harrington. Yeah, Tom. It was Neil. I think Neil Hurland sent Tom Harrington over, if I remember correctly. So now that we've covered our voices, if we sound a little off. Like, I've heard your voice so many times in the headphones.

And at the beginning, I'm like, oh, I can hear a little, like, sandpaper in there. But I think it's all, like, smoothed out now. I think you're back to Susan Bonner prime time here. But Tom Harrington, who was a backyard episode of Toronto, Mike, because he came over during the pandemic when I was told I couldn't have people in this basement. Right. And he was singing in that backyard. I'll never forget it.

But Tom Harrington, I don't think he ever had a concern about his voice. Tom doesn't have a lot of concerns. He is a one of a kind, that man. He is a Jack of All Trades. He is a really great guy on the radio, great sportscaster, great journalist, great mind, and he's a great friend. So are you still You're still hanging out with Tom Harrington Or at least chatting him up since you've left

Well he left before you obviously He left before me We have a plan to have lunch It hasn't happened yet But we'll always stay in touch To be a fly on the wall Yes Okay I want to be like at the table next to you

Just like in disguise I'll be wearing a fake nose and glasses And mustache And listening closely as you two Deliver the real talk Without a recording device nearby So, okay. So let's, okay, you said something in the cold open I'm going to ask you about.

So of course, what was your last day at the CBC? March 26th. Okay, so I should have had you March 27th. Why did it take me till May to get Susan Bonner? So you concluded, and I do have audio, but I'm going to save it for the end. Oh, dear. I know. I actually will tell you.

So I'm the one and only person here doing this. So book the guests, do the research, set everything up, get the audio ready. And then in real time I'm producing everything. And I had this debate. I went on a bike ride this morning. And I had a debate with myself, Susan. I'm like, okay, Mike, your clip is five minutes long. I said, you can't possibly play a five minute clip with your guest.

Like, you can add it in post. And then I actually said, Mike, it's your show. Adding it in post, that's not your style. So actually at the end, assuming this goes well, you're going to have to sit there and listen with me. Like you're going to have to listen. To that goodbye on March 26th? You got it. Oh, dear.

I broke the rule. No crying in news. There's no crying in news. Susan Bonner. Okay, well, we're going to get to that. But I guess the first big question I have for you, and then we're going to get a little bio from you, like how you got here. But why did you leave the CBC after 41 years? I think it was just time. It was time.

I have done a lot of things. I had done most of the things that I wanted. wanted to, although not all of them. And it was time to do something else. You know, there's this sense in Canada right now of, we're in a real moment. And I do five, did five newscasts a night. And that seeped into me. You know, that seeped into me, that sense of a moment. It's do or die for Canada. We've got to change. We've got to make a move. And somehow, that turned into my story. and I decided that I needed to change and I needed to make a move

and I needed to grow and I needed to be frightened again and I needed to be nervous Am I hearing right Susan? You're saying you needed to leave your comfort zone That's it I needed to leave my comfort zone But for what?

Well stay tuned I don't know yet I'm working on it There's something in that big brain of yours bouncing around Like so you And again So you re when you retire like

Did you literally go to your boss and say, I'm leaving? Or was there like some behind the scenes packages offered or something? And you said, I'll take one because it's time to do something else. We talked about that I would like to do something else for over a year. I would say I was talking to the leaders about that. And we just, there was just nothing that I really wanted to do, aside from perhaps a podcast, which I couldn't sell them on. But it. Interesting, Susan.

You drop these little nuggets. Like, you're just hoping I won't pick them up, I think. Well, I mean, I told them that I wanted to go. And I think they understood that it was time. You know, it's hard to go from that program and all the live specials to something else. It's not as though there are that many other opportunities. People in these top positions don't move around a lot. and I think I had done what I came to do at CBC

and certainly at CBC Radio. Okay, but there is an opening at Metro Morning right now. I was aware of that, but, you know, I am more of a national and international news person, and the Toronto audience would not have been well served by me. And by the way, nobody asked me to do that, so it's not my decision. So, okay, I'm going to be bouncing around here, because so many thoughts entering my head.

But one thing is, did anyone conflate the retirements? I don't even like, you don't like that word, but the retirement from CBC of Heather Hisscox and you, was there any conflation at all? Like, did anybody confuse you or, like, think you were the host of CBC Morning Live? Not on the... Because her last day was November 2025, and it was kind of like back-to-back, big CBC,

the blonde women, veteran blonde woman broadcasters who had great success at the CBC having very public. I'll use the word retirement. We'll talk later why that's the wrong word. I think it's probably just, you know, the age we are and where we are in life, it's a coincidence. I'm not going to tell you that I have not been confused

with other blonde women at the CBC over the last 41 years. Oh, my goodness. You know, people send me notes when they mean Susan Ormast Susan Ormiston sent me notes after I left CBC saying these came to me. I think they're meant for you. But not on that issue, no. It was just simply a coincidence. And was there any conversation?

I mean, David Common left Metro Morning to take over for Heather Hiscogs. Yeah. You could have slid in there and nobody would have missed a beat. Where into Metro Morning? No, CBC Morning Live. You know what? I left television 11 years ago and I was happy with that decision. And again, no one was talking about me for that. But I'm just telling you where I was at.

I was leaving radio. I was not going to go back to television. So you needed to shake things up. So for, I don't know, it sounds like for about a year. Does that coincide with the president of the United States talking about 51st state nonsense? Like it just, so all that's hitting, I, listen, I was on CNN twice because of this. Yeah, okay? Yeah.

So there you go. But, but, although CBC never calls me, okay? I'm just throwing it out there, but CNN called me. And then I'm, you know, I'm, I'm riled up about this, this, this 50 first state thing. Still pisses me off. Still upset about it. So many people are in Canada. That's what I mean when I say there's a moment.

You know, I've covered a lot of Canadian stories and, and I worked in the United States. this moment, this sense of rage, this sense that we have to do something different, it's palpable in this country, it is, it is a real, it feels like a real turning point. And as I say, it got me thinking about my own personal situation. And you realized if you were going to shake things up, you needed to, you know, leave the mother core. Yeah. I joke to my friends that I was making a leap of faith or jumping off a cliff. And at this point, it still isn't determined. But it's exciting, right?

It is exciting. It's just not knowing. I mean, it's good to be scared again. It's good to be nervous. You know what? You're speaking. I'm glad you're here because we're one week away from me making my debut or my debut. I'm headlining at the Elma combo on the 21st of May.

And after we chat, I'm going to bike to the Elma combo for a site visit and make sure the tech and everything is all sorted and everything. and I was thinking about why did I agree to do this thing? And I realized it's for the same reasons you left the CBC. Like, you needed to leave your comfort zone and shake shit up. Yeah, yeah. You can't say that at CBC, right? Shake shit up.

I've never said that on the air at CBC. I've certainly said it in meetings, perhaps, but not on the air, no. But yeah, see, and, you know, it's a human condition that we need to grow. We need to change. We need to learn. And the only way you learn is by doing it. I'm a real hands-on learner myself. And that's the way you do it is by doing something different.

And I bet you got awfully comfortable. Like you were so good at what you did and you did it for so many years that it's like you could do it in your sleep. Well, I don't know about that. I mean, the one thing about news is that what keeps you so excited is that it's different every day. And so it's exciting. And just when you think you've got everything figured out between Canada and the United States, Donald Trump comes along and changes the equation, and there's all kinds of things you have to learn.

You know, you have to learn all kinds of new bits of legislation and all kinds of, you know, nuance about trade agreements. Terrace this, tariffs. Exactly, exactly. So news keeps it interesting, and that's why I stayed for 41 years. You know, I don't know. The thing about the CBC is I've lived everywhere, I've done all kinds of things.

I couldn't have stayed at one company, I don't think, for 41 years, if it wasn't the kind of place that offered the kind of opportunities that CBC did. Hell of a run, Susan. I'm getting old choked up over here. But what was the podcast you pitched CBC that they didn't want to make? Well, I don't want anyone to steal my idea. I'll just give you the general sense. It was about Canada.

No one's listening. It's private chat. Okay. It was about Canada-U.S. relations. And it was, the idea was to have two broadcasters, one in the United States and one in Canada, talking about the situation. from their own perspectives. Okay, interesting.

Okay, so CBC took a pass at that, and then I guess you guys negotiated your last day would be in March, 26. Here we are chatting on May 13th. You kind of teased that, stay tuned is what you said. I'm quoting you, stay tuned. Could you elaborate on that,

or is this literally that's all we get about what you're thinking next? I am not trying to be. mysterious in any way, I promise. I'm still figuring it out. I'm talking to all kinds of people about where I might make a contribution. Here's what I want. I want to work for really smart, interesting people who have something to teach me and where I can contribute. I'd love to do something on the Canada U.S. file, if that was possible. I'm a bit of a policy wonk. I love to Right. But I don't know exactly where that's going to lead yet. I really don't. I'm not,

I'm not holding out on you. I just don't know yet. Well, it's early days, right? So what over like, I don't know, a month and a half or whatever it's being like, how has, and you don't like the word retirement, but how has this break been suiting you so far? It's been actually, I can't believe it's been a month and a half because I feel like I've been busy. And even just talking about this, I'm going to get nervous now about how can I have been unemployed for a month and a half. I've never been unemployed in my life. But I've been busy. I've been working out. I've been trying to take control of my life again. I don't work nights anymore. So I've been having dinner in my house with a plate and not Tupperware. It's been great. I've been seeing friends.

I've been sort of restoring my life. Yeah, you're catching your breath before you go do something else. Yeah. And when you know what you're doing next, you're going to let me know, right? I will, I promise. Yeah, I'm going to get you. We'll zoom the breaking news. What's next for Susan Bonner here? Okay, so I want to just tell the listenership about the shirt I'm wearing and then give you a couple of gifts. And then maybe if you don't mind, we can talk a little about those 41 years.

All right. 41 years. My goodness gracious. Okay, you don't even look 41 years old. No, very nice. Very nice of you. Thank you. This shirt I'm wearing.

This shirt, I feel like Christopher Walken and Pulp Fiction. This shirt. This shirt was gifted to me by a gentleman named Martin. He has many vowels in there because I believe that name is Dutch. They got lots of vowels going on. Okay. He worked for TV Ontario and there was a partnership in 1976 between CBC and TVO covering the Olympics in Montreal. You know what?

My grandfather worked for CBC as the chief accountant or some such title during the Olympics in Montreal. and we had a paperweight in our house with that CBC. You can call it the exploding asshole, if you like, Susan. You don't work there anymore. Exploding pizza. Okay, that's the alternative for air. But so long story short is everybody who worked these Olympics received this shirt. And this, so they're now, I noticed, they're selling replicas of this shirt now with like

the 1976 Olympic shirt that CBC and TVO people got. but I'm here to tell you this is not a replica, Susan. This is the real deal from 1976. This gentleman gifted it to me because he thought I'd enjoy it. And I have been wearing it every time a veteran CBC person like Tom Harrington, or who did I wear it for? I probably wore it for, did I wear it for Matt Galloway? Maybe I didn't have it yet.

But Diana Swain. That's a great gift. Marcia Young. That's a great gift. I actually wish I had some CBC swag and had thought to bring it for you. but I apologize. It would have been nothing as cool as that shirt. Well, don't, like you can't smoke near this.

You can't cook near this. I think it's highly flammable. Like, I'm afraid to even go outside if it's over like 30 degrees Celsius outside because it's highly flammable, but it's the real deal. It's quite fetching. I wore it for you, Susan Bonner. Thank you. There you go.

I want to explain the shirt. And it'll be on the photo. We'll take a photo by Toronto Tree after our chat. And it'll be there. So let me just give you a couple of gifts. You mentioned you're now able to actually. actually eat dinner in your home. Yes.

What if I sent you home with a delicious frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta? I would say a very big thank you to you and Palma Pasta. Palma Pasta.com. They are in Mississauga and Oakville, but I think longos, certain longos have them. It's delicious, this lasagna. So you're going home with the lasagna. Tom Wilson from Junkhouse. He's right here, actually.

Hey, so Tom Wilson from Junkhouse told me, Mike, I love doing your show. he says, because when I do shows at the CBC, they don't give me lasagna. We don't give very much. And, you know, until while I was employed at CBC, I wouldn't have been allowed to probably take the lasagna. We weren't allowed to take any gifts. Rightly so. Oh, I'll give you the list of the CBC people who took the gifts.

You can rat them out in that. Although not, I did. I won't, I don't think I'll name them just in case. But this gentleman was also retiring after a lengthy CBC career. And his last day was Friday. but we recorded on the Wednesday so he had two days left. Oh, he's in the clear.

Well, he said, would you mind holding on to the episode for two days and dropping it Friday after his last shift? Wow. Okay, that's diligence. And I'm still working on getting his wife to come over too.

She seems a little shy, but I would like to talk to her as well. She's also a veteran. I'm guessing. You're guessing now, okay. And if it is who I think it is, and if he's listening, he is a mensch.

He is a minch. Well, absolutely. Where's the one? wife, come on, she's the one I want to really talk to. I think she's, so there's a Montreal background there. So quick, one more, two more quick gifts, and then I want to bring you back to Montreal, where the 1976 Olympics did plays. Will Toronto ever get an Olympics? Oh, man. I don't know. Let's see how we do with the soccer. Well, we did the Pan Am games. I know that's not quite the Olympics, but we did well with that one. We'll see how we do with FIFA here.

Okay, I also have fresh craft beer for you, Susan Bomber. I keep saying Bomber. Is anyone never called you bomber. No, but that's preferable to what I have been called, which you can imagine. Okay, well, I'll need that list too. Okay. So fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery, they sent this over. One of these is not a beer. The shorter one here is actually a hop pop and there's no alcohol in that one.

They sell that at Great Lakes and it's delicious too. So that's for you, Susan. Thank you very much. Thank you. I don't know where you live. None of my business. But if you are in the city of Toronto, I got to tell you, The best bang for your buck is going to Christy Pits

to take in a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game. No charge, no ticket required. You can sit on that hill, you can bring a little blanket. I was chatting up another CBC reporter on the hill last Sunday, who I'll only refer to discreetly as MF, okay? So MF was at the game, and I saw a lot of good people at the game Sunday. Yassiel Pueig, controversial signing, hit two home runs.

He was two for two. Wow. Okay, so get your butts to Christy Pits and enjoy the quality baseball and get a hot dog and a beer and best value in town. My son hangs out there a lot with his buds. Smart. Your son is smart. And maybe you'll share this with your son. The history of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team in this book for you.

Definitely. Definitely, I will. All right. Now, we're almost in Montreal. Wasn't his lyric that night in Montreal or something? When I think about those nights in Montreal. Have you ever met Gino? No.

Okay, I get a broker of that deal. You, me, Gino. Having a cappuccino. Okay, I'll make that happen. Last gift here, and we're going to move on. But I have a measuring tape for you, Susan, from Ridley Funeral Home. Very nice. They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking.

Brad Jones records an episode every two weeks. Speaking to great podcasts, Nick Aienis has been a wonderful partner of this program, stepping up to help fuel the real talk. And Nick's podcast is called Building Toronto's Skyline. And I urge you to subscribe and listen. He also does a little show with me called Mike and Nick. And last but not least, Susan, if you have old devices, like old phones, I can envision like palm pilots and blackberries and a drawer somewhere.

All of those. Don't throw them in the garbage. Those chemicals will end up in our landfill. Right. Go to recycle myelectronics.c.ca. put in your postal code and find out where you can drop it all off to be properly recycled. It's one of the things on my list. I got a big drawer full of that stuff. Recycle my electric. I'm going to be watching you, Susan. Recycle my electronics.com.

Okay. Bring me back to Montreal. You're a Montreal gal? I was born in Montreal, yes. Okay. So how old are you when you leave Montreal? Well, I left it when I was eight years old. Oh. But I did go back as a reporter in the very, uh, sexy years of the constitutional crisis. So Montreal just feels like home. You know, I get there and it feels like home. Even though I was just a little kid when I left,

it feels like my hometown. It's in your blood. It really is. So in my calendar, I have a trip planned. I'm visiting Montreal. So if I survive this Elmo Ging on May 21, tickets now available at TorontoMike.com, click Elmo Gig, get a couple of tickets,

and come see me. May 21 at the Elma Combo. If I survived that, the week after that, I am going to Montreal because my daughter has a convocation at McGill. Very nice. That's very nice. My son graduated from McGill. We did not get to go because we just didn't get to go. Why didn't we go?

I guess he was working. Was it a pandemic or anything? No, it was after the pandemic, but he was working and didn't go. Yeah. He then went on to, I'm bragging here a little bit. No, do it. Because then I'll brag to. Okay.

He then went to London to study at the London School of Economics, and that was a convocation we did not miss. Okay. I was going to say, did you help at all with the payments for Miguel? Very expensive to be an out-of-province person there? He was lucky to have some money that came from his, when he was a little guy, from his family. Okay.

I was going to say, because then I feel like your child owes it to you to have a convocation. That's how I feel. I feel like, well, that's like my reward for helping to finance your higher education. It's so expensive. It really is so expensive. And you've got four. We just had the ones. So that was, it was tough enough.

Well, yeah, there's two little ones who I've still got a few years to save up here. You know, shout out to Palma Pasta. But I got to say what gets me, and I did not, you know, my daughter chose McGill for this business program. She wanted to go to, and it's a very good program. And she's graduated. I'm very proud of her. But this out-of-provence premium is devastating. I believe it's an extra $9,000 because she lives in Ontario.

And I, if I'm correct, McGill wants to, or is going to even raise that because of what's going on with the provincial government there, trying to make it a lot harder for these English universities. You're right. It makes me sad. I think they were going to grandfather in people who are already in the schools, I think. But you're right. It's only getting more expensive if you're out of province.

And, you know, when you think about McGill, they have these fantastic professors that come from, you know, around the world, really, to teach at McGill because it is a leading institution. But if they are forced to put their children primarily into French school first, it's going to cut down on the people that are coming to McGill. And, you know, they'll go to UFT or other Canadian universities out west. There are great universities here. Yeah. But that special sauce that was McGill is being watered down, I believe. Well, listen, I couldn't afford to leave the city, let alone the province. So I went to U of T because I could take a subway or a bicycle to get to school.

I went to Ryerson. Okay, that's where you went to study journalism, right? Yes. Okay, so you're in Montreal, and then it sounds like you leave when you're eight, but you go to the university formerly known as Ryerson to study journalism. So maybe help me understand how you end up at the CBC way back in 1985. Well, they had a program then called the National Summer Trainee Program, and they went around to all the universities,

and they chose students. They chose six of us. And so I was chosen. It was this phenomenal program. There's still a similar program. It has changed over the years. But in this case, they chose six of us. They brought us to Toronto.

And we were put together for three weeks. in this intensive training session. You know who's in that year with me was Scott Russell? Well, you know, Scott said he'd come on and then he ended up, he never came on. So if you're talking to Scott, tell him he owes me at Toronto Mike debut. Okay, I will tell him. He's a great guy.

And so it was this great program. He runs a university now, doesn't he? Well, he's a chancellor or something. Yeah, he's involved. He's a very busy guy. Right. But this program, was so great because they brought you in and they trained you and, and they just really built you up.

And then they dispatched you to these local newsrooms across the country. And I can remember, they gave us a list of the newsrooms that were taking summer trainees. And I thought, oh, man, I'm so lucky. I'm going to go to Ottawa. I'm going to go to Montreal or I'm going to stay in Toronto because Ottawa or Montreal because I spoke French and not everybody, not all of the six did. Instead, they sent me to Saskatoon. Running back to Saskatoon.

And it was the greatest thing anyone could have ever done for me. Because I would not have gone to Saskatoon unless someone gave me a plane ticket and a job. And that's what happened. And it was very smart of the CBC because they said, oh, she's a big. big city kid. She's happy in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. We're going to send her out west. And, you know, there I was learning all about grasshoppers and wheat crops and in big sky country. And I loved it. That's a university town, Saskatoon. Defenbaker went there. It's a really pretty town. It's a really pretty town. And, you know, Regina's the capital.

But Saskatoon is a very pretty place. You know, I married a woman from Saskatoon. That sounds like the opening of a novel. I think Gino Vanelli is going to write a song about that, I think, actually. But who apparently was told by my oldest. So I have another wife, okay? They weren't concurrent. I don't want to make it sound like I've got multiple wives at once. Okay.

Who's also a West Canadian. She's from Edmonton, but I like the West Canadian girls, okay? But my oldest tells me my ex-wife has bought a ticket to see me at the Elma combo. Oh. So there you go. That's so nice. All in the family. It's going to be quite a crowd there.

Okay, so you're in Saskatoon, and then you're experiencing, you know, I think that is smart of the CBC because you've got the big city, you've got to go to a smaller center and see how things are, because this Canada that you're going to cover is vast and diverse, and you need to appreciate different perspectives. Exactly. And local news was hot then. You know, we covered all kinds of things.

and our goal was to just appear on one of the network shows, you know, midday at the time or the national... Shout out to Ralph and Mergie. Yeah. Exactly. Ralph. I went to Ryerson. Who bought a ticket for my Elmo gig, Ralph? Very nice.

You know him? Yeah, I know him. He was at Ryerson when I was there, and he had a gig at the radio station there. I never thought I was good enough to work there, but I remember doing a story and being in the studio while he was recording. And, yeah, I've known... CKLN. I've known Ralph for a long time.

time. And he was doing yuck yuck stuff back then. I think I have the right era. He was hosting yuck yuck's gigs. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. So you're trying to get, I can see that. Your local Saskatoon, maybe one of your stories or whatever you get on whatever, the journal or the national or whatever the heck's going on. Yeah, I did. I did. It was actually a weather story, which is kind of funny. But yeah. And, you know, we had these jokes in Saskatchewan about, you know, the worst grasshopper infestation in biblical times. And then there were the diamond. and back moss and then there was the drought and then there was the you know it was one thing after the other with these uh with this situation you know it gave me a real appreciation for Canadian farmers

because you know big city girl I think I have this idea of what being a farmer is and it's nothing like that these farmers are environmentalists they are business people they are you know sophisticated thinkers. They have to plan ahead. They have to deal with international factors. They are the whole deal. And it was really important for me to learn that and to

be there and see that. And oh man, have you ever seen a family at harvest time when, you know, when the combines are out under the full moon and the... Sounds like a Neil Young song now. And the families are in there cooking and the community comes together. It's magical.

Yeah, you're selling it. me on Saskatchewan. Like I'm, I'm thinking that's where I belong. You're selling me on Saskatoon. What's your stop after Saskatoon? Calgary. Okay. That's a bigger, bigger city. Mm-hmm. And, you know, quite different from Saskatoon. A big city for sure. A big western city. I got there after the collapse of the oil industry. So there were some empty towers and stories about people who had lost just about everything. I was there for the Winter Olympics. I was going to ask if you were there for the 88 Olympics. I was, yes.

Shout out to Elizabeth Manley. That's what I think of first. When I think of the 88 Olympics, I think of Elizabeth Manley. We didn't win a gold. No, it was such a fun time. It was such a fun time. Although, oh my God, traffic was a nightmare. You know, I had to go down to Olympic Square

and do a little thing at the end of the show every night, at the end of the newscast about in advance of the medal ceremony before we would throw to the network sports coverage. And it would take me two and a half hours to get out of there. afterwards. Welcome to the big leagues, big cities. Big city. Now I feel I must shout out Brian Orser as well. Yes. What's interesting is we talked about the Battle of the Brian Botano and you're right, Brian Orser. We talked about the 76 Olympics because I'm wearing the shirt.

No gold medals for Canada. Then we get the 88 Olympics in Calgary. You're there. Although were you at the 76 Olympics? No, I wasn't. Because you're in diapers? I'm doing the math here. Okay. Yeah, I was around, but no, I was not. there. But Calgary was also plagued by weather concerns. You know, Calgary is not a real winter city, right? The Chinooks mean that in the lead up to the Winter Olympics, I cannot tell you how many stories we did about will there be enough snow. Will there, you know, have they put the Olympics in the wrong spot? They were making snow like crazy. I did get to go down the bobsled run. That was fun. Okay. And then they made a movie about it. That's a different movie.

Okay, the different, the John Candy movie. But, okay, so Calgary, what's after Calgary? Halifax. So that's, yeah, you are getting to see. I really was. I mean, it's not, it's not exactly something I planned, although at the time, I was in Calgary, and CTV was hiring, CTV National News,

was hiring a bunch of reporters. And I had worked there as a student, as not on air, but as an editorial assistant. When you were at Ryerson? Okay. Okay. Out in Scarborough. And they came out and they interviewed me and asked me if I wanted a job.

I think the offer was Winnipeg. And instead I went to Halifax as a reporter in the Halifax newsroom. And part of my thinking was I didn't want to leave CBC. But I also, people said, but it's a network job. Are you crazy? And my thinking was, well, now I'm going to go to the East. coast. Look at my resume. I will have covered a good chunk of Canada. Well, you're, you've got Montreal, you've got Toronto because you went to, you went to Ryerson, right? Yeah. Now you got

Saskatoon, you got Calgary, you throw in some Halifax, and yeah, you're ready for Ottawa. Well, first I went back to Montreal and did all the political stuff there. And, and then I went to Ottawa for 10 years. Yeah, my colleagues at Radio Canada used to say, I did not do British Columbia, so I do feel bad about that. But yeah, I did. It's one of the things I'm the proudest of, and I learned so much living in those places. It's fun to just drop in and do stories, but it's completely different to actually live there. So when you're part of the National News Division as a political correspondent in Ottawa,

what are the stories you covered that stick out in your mind? as we talk here in 2026. Oh boy. Well, a lot of it was the Jean-Cretien's government had a lot to deal with at the time. There was the same-sex marriage, which the liberals were dragged into kicking and screaming.

I can remember being in these scrums outside the liberal cabinet meetings, asking them after the courts had ruled, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? And they were, you know, the government was behind the courts on that issue and on others.

And of course, then the big story was the sponsorship scandal. And that was the way that money was handed out to Quebec in the fallout from the referendum in 1995. And then the other simmering issue, which underlined all the issues on Parliament Hill in those years, was the, how do I say it? Let's say the word feud between Jean-Cretien and Paul Martin over who was going to lead the party. I just had Warren Kinsella in this basement. Right. And we did talk quite a bit about that because he was very loyal to Kretia. Yes, he was.

He was. It was a really interesting time because, you know, these were, the political family was divided over this and it did get nasty. And then, of course, it led to so many things, including what is really exciting to cover for any political reporter, but specifically at that time was the beginning of the era of minority governments. we hadn't had one for decades in Canada when Stephen Harper, well, first Paul Martin won a minority government and then Stephen Harper.

So there was a lot of swirl and churn and change in Ottawa, and that is always good to cover for a political reporter. So why do you, like, I mean, I guess I'm thinking if you're covering, you know, Canadian stuff in Ottawa, is it that, you know, going to Washington, D.C., that's like a step up? Yeah, yeah, if you're a political. journalist, you, I mean, I would have been happy to stay in Ottawa, I think, because it is very interesting and there's so much change. But when the opportunity came to go to Washington, I jumped on it.

It wasn't easy because, you know, moving a family to the United States is tough. Broke my son's heart the day I told him. But then he ended up loving it. So the story has a happy ending. Okay, good. But yeah, it was hard and it was wonderful. and I got to tell you the biggest difference between being a reporter in Washington for CBC and a reporter in Ottawa for the CBC.

Every time you say anything as a reporter in Ottawa for the CBC, you get email, you get phone calls from the politicians, from their staff. In Washington, you're pretty much invisible. I mean, maybe not so much now, but when I was a Canadian reporter, and I worked on the lawn of the White House, which a great Canadian, Henry Champ, had set up for CBC, a spot right on the White House lawn, had a little office in the basement of the White House.

You know, the Canadians were, no one paid attention to us. Nobody did. The Mexican leaders, when they came to Washington, got more attention. And the joke was, that's the problem, child. We're not a problem, so no one pays attention. Guess what? Now the Canadians are a problem.

I miss those good old days. You're making me nostalgic for when Americans forgot we existed. Yeah, exactly. So just a timestamp it, though. So this is Obama Corps, as I now call it here. So you're there from 2009 to 2013. So I got to say looking back, it's a bit, you know, people talk about, you know, older people will wax nostalgic about Camelot.

And they talk about whatever. But I'm saying this Obama era looking back, hard to believe it even happened. I know, I know. Although by the time that I was covering Obama and into that second election of his, you could feel the winds of change happening, the birth of the Tea Party. Mitt Romney almost won the election. In fact, on election night, I was in Boston, and they thought they had won. They were preparing a victory party.

This is important perspective and context here, because me following it that night, watching it on TV, it felt to me like a convincing win by Obama. He did win, and it was a solid victory. I mean, a win is a win, basically. But it was a close election. Do you remember the debates, the first debate? Oh, yeah, he was like not himself. Yeah, he was asleep.

And I think that if you're watching from Canada, you maybe didn't really get a sense of, during, throughout the campaign, of the anger that was beginning to bubble in America, that has, you know, that erupted. So how much of that is just awful, old-fashioned racism? I think a lot of it is, it comes from economic change. And people in Middle America feeling like they've lost their sense of place.

A lot of economic change led to a lot of anger and resentment. And you could, you know, you could hear, look, America got out of Afghanistan long after us, right? It was the longest war for America since the Vietnam War. And there was that problem. There was this sense that the Democrats had become sort of elitists, you know. Small L liberal elitists was the label. And that Obama was just sort of like a movie star to them.

Too cool for school? Too cool for school. That was what you heard. And the Tea Party really came about, you know, at first it seemed like this disorganized. You know, we would try to interview these people, what do you want? What do you want? And maybe the answer was they just wanted change. They wanted change.

Remember Sarah Palin had this line which really stuck, which is, how's that hopey, changey thing working out for you? Remember because Obama's campaign was all about hope and change? And there was that sense of it. when he won the first time. But in the second campaign, that was the line. How's that working out for you, Middle America? So is it just short memories? Because lest we forget, and I don't need to tell you this,

I guess I'm talking to some listeners who need to remember what the economy was like in 2008, heading into 2009. Like the economy that W. Yeah. W. Hands off to Obama. I was working for a B2B software company that did a lot of sales to the states. I remember the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the mortgage this and the bank crisis and everything going on,

the mortgage crisis, everything going on in the United States at that time. So this whole economy, it's the economy stupid. That was Clinton's guy. But geez, like, it looked from my perch way up here in Toronto, like a bit of a miracle worker to reverse that slide. Yeah, and we should also point out that we didn't get affected by that in Canada, the same way that they did. There were a lot of Americans who looked.

lost their homes or were sitting on homes that were not worth what they were paying for them. There was a lot of economic pain and there was a lot of economic uncertainty about those banks can just, that can happen in America. It was a terrifying time. And he inherits that economy, Obama, I mean, the Democrats in 2000 and January 20, I guess it's January 20, right? They had to bail out the auto sector at the time. There was a lot going on, absolutely.

But okay, so he did win two-elect. He was a two-termer, Obama. So why do you leave Washington in 2013? A couple of reasons. The biggest one was family. My son was 13. He was going into middle school. And the idea was that it would be better

if we were to come home when he could start his you know middle school high school years um in one place and um as much as i loved living in the united states and there's still so much that i love about that country i wasn't keen on raising an american teenager i record every quarter so you know what a quarter is four times a year i record with ed keenan who is a columnist with the tronal star right ed was sent to Washington. Ed was cover, he was a, Toronto Star sent him to Washington as the correspondent in Washington, D.C.

And he was working the day of the insurrection January 6th. And we've had many a conversation on Toronto Mike where he talked about what he saw and, you know, he always had to clear about, he was there, but he wasn't participating in the insurrection. He was covering it as a,

a journalist. And he was, he talked about why he came home and it's a very similar story. Like, like, you know, He had kids and time to come home, basically. So you just felt like it's time to come back to Canada? Yeah. My son's dad was having a hard time finding work there. It was really difficult.

And there was just a lot of soul-searching about what was best for the family. And it was hard. It was really, really hard. It was the last time that I was that emotional before that goodbye on March. 26th. Oh, no, I can imagine because if you, as a, you know, as a journalist, I will never refer to you as a broadcaster again, only journalists. Okay, Susan, I've taken a note here. I might fix that in post, okay? No, no, no. I was just describing to you my own sense of that word. Oh, and also, listeners know I won't fix that in post. Okay. Don't worry. Nothing will get fixed in

posts. So be careful what you say on these microphones. It'll live forever. But the top of, I guess Washington, D.C., is that the top of the mountain? Like, there's, what do you do? Go to the moon? For a political reporter, it certainly was. I mean, a lot of reporters want to go foreign and want to, you know, go to war zones and all of that stuff. And, you know, I

certainly would have loved to have been based in London, for example, but I was much happier doing political stuff. I loved it. I loved every moment of it. It is, you know, it's, it's the national conversation in, when you're

in Ottawa. And when you're in Washington, all of the international issues are funneled through that White House. So it's just a fabulous place to be for a reporter. I can imagine. And then maybe the president will wear a tan suit. I'm still outraged. Susan, I'm still outraged.

That was the big Obama scandal. He will imagine the audacity of that man to wear a tan suit. Yes. I once saw him interviewed where he described that he had blue suits. dark gray suits and black suits. I don't even think he had blue.

And he just said he had a cupboard full of them. And it was because he didn't want to choose what to wear. He just wanted to sort of get up and put a suit on. The advantage of being a man. And I think maybe he said that after the tan suit. So I mean, I think Fox News went wire to wire for weeks on the tan suit. Meanwhile, we don't have to talk about the stuff that's not being discussed today. It's just, it'll be interesting when enough time.

has surpassed when this, you know, everybody dies, like shout out to Ridley funeral homes, Susan, everybody dies. So eventually the man who's now president will die eventually. But when enough time has passed and the historians are writing the documents and teaching our grandkids and stuff about, you know, the history of the USA, it'll be fascinating the compare and contrast between how the media covers the Obama two terms and then the Donald Trump two terms, a assume he finishes the second term. Yeah. I mean, the erosion of norms and civility,

I mean, look, politics has always been crazy. And, you know, when I first started going to Washington, I was a reporter in Toronto and I was sent to fill in. And that was the Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton summer. And, man, that was crazy. That was crazy, crazy. Remember the blue dress in the freezer with the... Of course, I do.

Yes, there was a stain, as I recall. There was a stain. And she put it in a plastic bag and put it in a freezer. and you just sort of think, I'm covering this on the news. This is national and international news. It can't get any crazier than this. Buckle up.

Yeah, it sure did. It's upsetting. It's worrying what's happening in politics. And I worry that Canada is not immune. No, I feel like you need to elaborate a little on that because I think you're right. Well, I mean, you know, I think Canadians, sometimes have a inferiority slash superiority complex when it comes to the United States.

And there are so many things that we do better than them. But sometimes when you look at the history, we're just 10 years behind them. We're not all that different. I mean, yeah, it's America. Everything is bigger and bolder. That's just what they do. With more guns. With more guns.

That's what they do. They do it bigger. It's all supersized. Right. Even the politics. But there are political trends. that are happening around the world and, you know, we live next door to this country and we are influenced. I mean, just take a look at what's happening in Alberta right now for shades of

some of that. Should I be worried about this out? Because I kind of have it on in the background, if you will, and it seems like, oh, there's like, I don't make up the numbers, but like, oh, there's like 20 to 30% this. Like, is there anything to be, should Canada be concerned about Alberta? Well, I think Canada should be concerned about any kind of an attempt to break up this country. As a Quebecer and as someone who's lived through, you know, those referendums on Charlottetown and then the referendum in 1995 where we came to within like a breath of a, you know, of a separation attempt. 50.1, right? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it's, it was terrifying and it was upsetting. And it is happening in Alberta. there's a big difference this time. The people that are pushing for it this time were not elected to do any of this. They are not people who were elected with a platform

which made it clear that this is what they wanted to do. Whatever we think of the separatists or the sovereignists in Quebec, they were elected and they told people what they wanted to do. They had a mandate. They had a mandate. Right.

And it does seem like there's a foreign interference from the United States on this Alberta file. And other countries as well. And, you know, I think that if it does come to a referendum campaign, there will be a lot more, a lot more. What's scary times? We need you back in journalism here, Susan. Okay, we need people like you who have seen some shit

and can give great perspective. Well, there are lots of good people at the CBC. You read that prepared statement. I did not. I'm just kidding. No, she didn't. Okay, so back to the subject of the matter. So you leave Washington, D.C., and you come to Toronto.

Uh-huh. And this is like 2013. Yeah. So I know in 2014, you succeed Allison Smith as anchor of the world at six. Yeah. And in my heart will forever be known as the world at six. Yeah, mine too. Okay.

We share the heart here. Now, what, so maybe share a little bit about how you end up anchor of the world at six and what are you doing between your return to Toronto and taking over for Allison in September 2014? I was having a hard time, to be honest. It was really hard to come back from Washington. Personally, it was the right thing to do. Professionally, it was as hard as hell. I worked in the investigative unit for a while thinking, you know, my mantra has always been,

okay, try something new. You've never done this before. You've worked in Toronto before as a reporter, as a network reporter, but you've never done this. It wasn't for me. I wasn't that great at it. It just wasn't for me. It's a specific kind of person that does this investigative reporting. Diana Swain and I were in the same unit.

She's a wonderful person and a great colleague, and I loved working with her. And I did have some fun and some good stories, but it just wasn't my passion. So then I went to the business unit where I had been an economics reporter back. in the 90s before I went to Ottawa, and that was better for me. It was a better fit, but there wasn't a huge appetite for the stories we were doing, and I just was still struggling. And then someone at radio said, how would you like a career in radio? And I thought about it. And one of the things that really enticed me was I loved doing live television and live programming. And so the radio gig was, yes, you hosted this program, but you also did all the live

specials. So all the live election coverage, all the budgets, all the Remembrance Day, all of that stuff. And so it just seemed like an exciting opportunity, and I jumped. And I never looked back. Radio is really cool. Did you work with Robert Fisher? Well, I worked with Robert Fisher a little bit when I went to radio, but I worked with him. I mean, all political reporters know all other good political reporters, and Robert was one of the best, so I knew him for years that way. Your homework, Susan, I need to assign all guests' homework, is you need to make some time and listen to Robert Fisher's Toronto mic debut. Okay, I will.

I will. I will. I say, buckle up. Okay, I will. That man's ready. That man was great. Okay. Also, he's being a fantastic supporter of the show where I feel like he's,

tapping people on the shoulder and saying, you need to get to the South Atovicole basement. This is the kind of support. Robert, if you're listening, hello. Of course he's listening. I bet my life on it. And a quick, fun fact about Diana Swain when she came over, she revealed that she was Miss Chilliwack.

Yeah. You know this. I can't tell you anything. Okay. No, she, Diana Swain is, is very cool. She's a very cool woman. Very cool. And man, the story about broadcasting with her father was,

I know. I know. I know. You know. So you don't need, that's the other homework, but you don't need that. You know the Diana Swain stuff. But there's a great episode of Toronto Mike with Diana Swain as well. Okay. So, so you got, you got the world at six. I got the world at six. So that's where you've been. Yeah. You know, my youngest, who's only 10. I say bin. And sometimes I say bin and sometimes I say being, like depending on, I don't know, my mood. I don't know the, you're the radio professional.

Is it B-E- Where have you been? So it's not, where have you been? I think I would say where have you been. But now you're making me think. Well, the thing is, this came up yesterday, okay? Where she makes fun of me because sometimes I say bin, like almost like I'm saying B-I-N. And then sometimes I catch myself and really nail the bean because it's B-E-E-N.

But I actually don't know if bin is been wrong. Like if you think of the B-Naked Lady's song that went to number one. on the Billboard Hot 100, okay? And it ends with a shout out to Birchmount Stadium. Because at the end of that song, which went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, they say Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie.

Like that happened, okay? But they say, it's been. Like, they don't go, it's being. That was really good. Thank you. That's why I'm headlining at the Elman combo. That was very good.

I was impressed. Because the song was rattling around in my head to consider your point. about which is it. Right. They don't go, It's Bean. Right.

So maybe I need to ask Tom Harrington. You know what you need to do sometimes? Yeah, Tom is good at that. When we have these discussions at the CBC when we had, see, I'm still putting it in the present tense. Well, it was only March where you haven't been gone that long. You're still going to consider yourself a part of the team. Maybe it's like you're on a long vacation.

Okay, that's good. I'll stay with that for a while. A permanent vacation. But we say split the difference, you know, split the difference. between bin and bean. So try to find the middle. Yeah. Yeah.

Split the difference. Okay. I still need a ruling from, actually maybe Robert Fisher can rule on it. Somebody write me, Mike at Toronto Mike.com, and tell me, if it's,

I've been thinking about you or I've been thinking about you, let me know how to say it. I also struggle, this is a quick one here. I think I know the answer, but I'm going to ask you because you've had so many hours

on our national airwaves. But pasta or pasta? If you were doing a story about Alma pasta I say pasta I think Canadians typically say pasta I've been saying pasta because I've been so heavily influenced

by a commercial for mother's pizzeria that starred Dennis Weaver in which he said these words pizza pasta made perfect so forever my brain thinks of pasta but I believe Canadians say pasta I say pasta Okay, I don't want to speak American.

Okay, I'm a proud Canadian over here. That's why I'm on CNN. Okay, so back to the world at 6. All right. 2014 to 2026. I'm doing math, and I think that's, what, 12 years? Yeah, not quite 12 years. But getting up, yeah, exactly.

And you know what, that's the longest I'd ever held any job at the CBC. The longest I'd ever done any job, because I moved around a lot. And even in Ottawa, I was there for 10 years, but I did various things. But that's why you had to leave your comfort zone, because you, you, you, you, you, were there too long. What you really needed was a new exciting, not that there was one. I don't know any of that inside baseball there,

but you needed a new exciting challenge at the CBC. And I bet you dollars to donuts. There's an expression for you. Dollars to donuts, you'd still be at the CBC. Maybe. It's not as though the CBC was at fault, though. I don't want to leave that impression. It was time.

It was time. I could have stayed longer, absolutely. but when I, now that I'm gone, I think it was the right time. It was the right time for me to go because, you know, it's now or never. You reach a certain age and you've got to put your ambitions first. And my ambition is change right now. So this is the stay tuned. Yeah.

As you said earlier. So you're not, you didn't like the R word, retired because you do not consider yourself retired. You simply have left the CBC after 41 years. I have left the CBC. am going to do something else. Maybe I'll do many things. I don't know. I'm going to do what feels right and where I can make a contribution.

And really, I really just, I just want to keep learning. Okay. So I tease this off the top, but I really did struggle because I typically, if I'm playing something for somebody, it's like a minute to two minutes maybe. And at two minutes, it's like, oh, I feel like it's going a long time. Like, it just, you know, two minutes feels longer when you're live to air, as you might know, as somebody who does that. Okay.

So I honestly felt in my heart on the bike ride like, you should just sit there for five minutes and listen with me. So the listenership can take it in. And then you can speak to it at the conclusion. Would that make you really uncomfortable? Because I don't want to make you uncomfortable. No, no. I mean, it went out on air,

but as long as I get to talk about it afterwards. Oh, my God, yeah. Okay. Yeah, of course. Do you know where you are? You're in the jungle, baby. Okay. So I'm going to play this five minutes in its entirety.

I might stare at you the whole time. Is that embarrassing? Even like all the little sign-offs at the end that you're playing the whole thing. I'm playing five minutes. It's actually 525. I'm playing this. So I know. It's my show, Susan.

When you have your own show, okay, you can do what you want. But this is what I've decided I want to do. So we will talk about this at the other side. Here we go. Finally tonight. And it is final. My last broadcast. at CBC.

I am moving on. It's the right time for me to do this, and yet it is hard to say goodbye. It was 1985 when I joined CBC News, posted first to Saskatoon, then Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, a decade in our parliamentary bureau in Ottawa, then Washington, D.C., all of that in television.

I joined radio, and this program then called the world at 6 in 2014. I have been so lucky to live and travel all over Canada to cover major news stories across the U.S. and beyond. I brought a little bit of everywhere I've been to this job, and I hope I brought it to you. And that's what's special about CBC, not me. If you listen to this program,

you care about what is happening in your community. your country, your world. And you care about context. You want the facts, the meaning, the impact on people. I am just one of many people at CBC who try to deliver on that with what we have seen, what we have learned, what we know. It's my voice, supported by many who approach this work as a mission of sorts. As I leave this place I have loved, I want to thank you.

all the people I've worked with on all the programs in all the places. The camera and sound crews, the editors, researchers, the signers, writers, producers, directors, the technicians, the reporters, hosts, the support staff, my wonderful colleagues across this country and beyond. And huge gratitude to the stellar team here at your world tonight. I cannot thank them enough for everything. And I want to thank you our listeners for letting us tell your stories, letting us into your work and your lives, giving us your expertise, your time. It is a shared endeavor that I have cherished. So, for one last time, thank you for joining us.

I say proudly, for CBC News. I'm Susan Boner. over and out. You'll be seeing that Olympic logo on a lot more things, a lot more often. But we are still more than 300 days away from the 1988 Winter Olympics. For Olympic Diary, I'm Susan Bonner. On the morning before a Trump rally in Houston, we found our hotel lobby buzzing. It was filled with people decked out in red hats and t-shirts labeled the Mighty Texas Strike Force.

This is a community in lockdown. Authorities have told everyone to stay inside. You can see the police vehicles whizzing by us now. They are looking for this suspect. It is a massive manhunt. 75 years ago today, Soviet soldiers liberated the largest industrialized Nazi extermination camp in Europe. Auschwitz-Burkenau.

What they found here was unfathomable. A sense of crisis deepened in this country today about the spread of the coronavirus, about the spiraling markets and the damage to the economy, about the ability to handle it all. We're in Ramallah tonight speaking with Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. It is a siren cry on Quebec's Magdalene Islands. Vulnerability.

Climate change is not a future threat on this archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It's happening now. It's been another tight election campaign. A majority government is possible, but the numbers suggest. a minority parliament is far more likely. We are about to find out what you have decided.

The President of the United States is one of the most protected men on the planet. But the Secret Service couldn't protect him today from an errant elbow in a game of basketball with family and friends. As many as three birds wearing little cowboy hats have been spotted in the city over the last week, going about their business seemingly unbothered by their accessories. A video kicked off a bit of a viral craze. At least two of the birds have been given names, Kulamity Jane and Cluck Norris. One rescue is still trying to capture.

It's the first time since the election that Harper has said he needs a majority to do what he was elected to do. It won't be the last time you hear that. Susan Bonner, CBC News. Ottawa. Susan Bonner, CBC News, Saskatoon, Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Jerusalem, Ramuski, Edmonton, Lannigan, northeast of Calgary, Susan Bonner, CBC News, Washington. Ouch. Why do you say, ouch? That was really hard. I didn't hear all the sign-offs. They played that that day, but let me tell you what happened. Okay, so we do this close at the end of the program.

There, I'm doing it again. We did this close at the end of the program. program. And often it was light because, you know, the news is not light. It's heavy. And I didn't write it most times. Someone else did. But for my goodbye, I decided I was going to write it. So I wrote it a month before I left in my kitchen, in the dark, with a glass of wine, at my computer. And I just thought, all the, think about all the happy memories that you've had in this place. And I wrote it in about 20 minutes. And I didn't look at it for a month. And then when we were, I said to my team, we do it live, of course. And I said, I can't do this live. So we were going to record it in the afternoon. And the whole team came into the, so they were on the other side of the glass as I was doing that. And there was actually a television crew recording it as well. And, and, and, what I will tell you and what most people would never know is that because I am kind of an emotional

person that wouldn't show up in my broadcasting all these years, but I have a pin that I keep in the studio and I press it in between my thumb and my finger when something makes me emotional or something is funny like that ridiculous pigeon story. so that I don't lose control. And the pin wasn't working. It just wasn't working. Nothing was working. I was so emotional.

I just could barely hold it together. But Susan, I think hearing your voice break there, it humanizes you. I think that's important that you are a human being. And yes, you've been a trusting voice delivering news in this country for, well, for 41 years. But you're a human being with emotions. And I think the reason that clip is so popular is because of that voice breaking and you showing that emotion. Well, it was, it was, talk about being out of your comfort zone. I was really uncomfortable about it.

And then I got so many letters from people saying, thank you for saying that and thank you for sharing it. And, you know, repeating some of the things you've just said. So I think I'm okay. But, you know, I do sometimes feel like I broke a big rule, which is there's no crying in news. No crying in baseball. Who wrote these rules? Okay. I feel like the farewell broadcast you hosted your anchor of the world at 6th in September 2014.

Here we are. And it was March 2026, your final broadcast, you took a couple of minutes at the end. Remember, that's a five-minute clip. But a lot of that is the clips of you in your career that they did, right? So I don't know, your speech is like two minutes or something like that. But my goodness gracious, if you can't. and have two minutes to be a human being and say goodbye, then what's the point of any of this?

No, you know, the thing is, when you're talking about yourself, it's a lot different than when you're telling people, you know, you're in your news personality, right? And you try to be authentic all the time, but you're doing your job. It's different than when you're saying goodbye to something. And you, as anchor of the world at six, you're really you're delivering news.

It's not like a host of Metro morning where you can talk about going and seeing the Maple Leafs game at Christy Pits the other day. Like it's a different job. Yes. And I don't open up like that on the air. And I don't open up like that. I mean, I'm an introvert in an extroverted business.

It's always been a little hard. So when the gate was opened, there was a bit of a gusher. A bit of a gusher. But again, I love that you were a human being because you are a human being, Susan Bonner. I am. That's breaking news. Any kids out there listening and don't do the pin thing, that's kind of ridiculous.

But it was my trick. I can see pinching yourself. Yeah. Sometimes if I think I'm going to get the giggles on something where it's inappropriate for me to have the giggles, I'll do that trick. You do that thing? You know, you focus on that little pain you feel. I did it with a pin. Like I didn't cut myself.

There was no blood. But it was, it needed to be intense pressure or I wouldn't have been able to hold it together. Okay, so you're, is it fair to say you're a reserved person? Or is that not the term you would use? I'm trying to get the right term. I don't know if I'm reserved. I'm just not, I'm just not as extroverted as I am introverted. A lot of my extroversion went into my job.

And then when I'm not behind a microphone, it's a little bit, it's a little bit harder for me. But I'm not, I don't think I'm reserved with people that I work with or people, that I know. Maybe in front of a microphone. Yeah. Okay. So you've been in front of a microphone now for like 75 minutes, let's say. Okay.

How was this for you? This was great. This was great. Okay. So no regrets. No regrets. I wondered if anybody twisted, I don't know if it was, maybe it was like a Tom Harington or something. I wondered if anybody twisted your arm and said you should do this.

No. I just thought you wanted to do it. And I know some of my colleagues have done it. And of course I wanted to do it. Listen, Dwight Drummond. did it, okay? I had a guest over yesterday. This guy, Don Pyle, from Shadowy Man on a Shadowy Planet. It's amazing episode. Yeah, I heard it. I heard it. Oh, he heard it. Okay. I love that guy. And we talked, you know, he went to running meet collegiate and I gave him the fun fact that

Dwight Drummond went to run and meet collegiate. Wow. Fun fact. That's a, that's a fun. Okay, I did not know that. There you go. There you go. I learned something. Well, listen, do you know the rapper? No, I'm looking at him now. That's why I'm looking over here. The rapper known as Maestro Fresh Wes. Well, I know the name. Sure. So Maestro Fresh West's big breakthrough hit in Canada was called Let Your Backbone Slide. And in the video, early in the video, there is a cameo by the one and only Dwight Drummond. Because he was working security at Electric Circus at 299 Queen Street West. And Joel Goldberg, who directed this video for Maestro, basically grabbed them and put them in the video.

That's so cool. I love those little stories. That's what makes podcasts like this. Come over more often and I'll give you more. I wish I had more to have given you on those little gems, but yeah, I am what I am. You are what you are, and you're no Popeye, but you're going to enjoy this next chapter. I can sense it. You sound like somebody who belongs.

You should be working in journalism, so I look forward to finding it. I'm staying tuned to find out what's next for you, and I'm excited for you. Thank you very much. I don't know if it's going to be in journalism, but I am looking forward to finding out whatever it is, whatever color my next parachute is.

May not be in journalism. It may be in like landscaping or gardening or something like that. Who knows? Okay. So this was your exit interview, 41 years at the CBC. I can tell you, even at the beginning, the voice sounded like there was a bit of sandpaper,

but it smoothed out. You sounded great. And in my headphones for the last 75 minutes, I keep thinking, this country is going to miss that voice. Thank you so much. It's really been great to talk to you. And that brings us to the end of our night.

Also, this was a milestone episode. You're 1900. Okay. I'll consider that my lucky number now. Forever. When we talk about, I remember milestone 1800, we did it live from Casaloma. And you are 1900.

My goodness. Okay. That's a great number. number you got there. And that brings us to the end of our 1900th show. Go to Torontomike.com for all your Toronto mic

needs and that's where you can buy an Elmo ticket. Go to Elmo gig at the top of Toronto Mike.com and buy a couple of tickets. I'm going there now. I'm biking to the Elmo now, doing a site visit because May 21st is like eight days away. Holy moly.

Much love to all who made this possible. Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. Susan's got her fresh craft beer. I do. Palma Pasta. I'm going to grab it from my freezer before we go take the picture. Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. I'm going to try to get there Sunday because it seems like every at bat.

Gassiel Pueig is going to go deep, so I don't want to miss that. Nick Aini's, listen to building Toronto Skyline. Recycle My Electronics.C.A. and Ridley Funeral Home I'm checking my calendar in real time Susan Barner and I'm here to tell you my next guest

Okay, this is all the pre-elmo stuff I've got Sir Jerry Levittan dropping by He's the kid who interviewed John Lennon Oh wow And at the King Eddie He was in high school

It's quite a story Stu Stone drops by Wednesday He's going to be the hype man For the big show on the 21st at the Alma combo. And then to recap everything, oh yeah, Charlie Angus. Charlie Angus is in the basement on Friday.

You know him well. Charlie Angus, there's a guy who doesn't like this 51st state bullshit. No. We'll be talking about that next Friday. See you all. Then. Gino Vanelli, by the way.