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The AIH Transcript for August 14, 2017

Hosts: Mike Finnerty and Robert Doane

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

MIKE FINNERTY: Hello I'm Mike Finnerty sitting in for Carol off.

ROBERT DOANE: Good evening. I'm Robert Doane sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is as it happens.

[MUSIC: THEME]

RD: Tonight

MF: From bad to worst. When racists showed up in numbers for a rally in Charlottesville Virginia. The city knew there would be trouble, but the killing of a counter-protester turned a terrible day into a tragedy.

RD: The rebel becomes a cause. Albert a united conservative candidate Doug Schweitzer says that after its coverage of Charlottesville Canadian conservatives should refuse to cooperate with Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media.

MF: The earth gives way. At least 300 people are dead and hundreds more are left homeless when torrential rain causes catastrophic mudslides in Sierra Leone.

RD: In a way Oscar won her. Remembering the late Daisy Sweeney— the first person to teach her brother Oscar Peterson piano— and a musical force to be reckoned with in her own right.

MF: It's journey to heroism is kind of a head scratcher, well a hand and arms scratcher to be accurate. But long after it was reluctantly plucked from the diamond during a major league game, a stray cat is the toast of St. Louis because baseball is weird.

RD: And sucker bunch. A Halifax weather reporter got a great deal on bulk bananas at Costco although he's pretty iffy on the free gift that was included or included itself in the bag. A scorpion as it happens the Monday edition radio that hopes he can keep forecasting without an un-forecast sting.

[MUSIC: THEME]

Part 1: Charlottesville attack: Vice-Mayor/father, bees study, Minister Freeland on NAFTA, banana scorpion

Charlottesville attack: Vice-Mayor/father

Guest: Wes Bellamy

RD: This weekend racist's arrived in Charlottesville Virginia en masse carrying Confederate flags, KKK signs and swastikas. And it soon became clear that their rally to protect a monument of Confederate General Robert E. Lee would not be peaceful at all. At the rally on Saturday there was pushing, shoving and yelling between those attending the rally and those protesting against it. Then people went from trading insults to trading punches. And then horrifyingly someone drove a car into a group of the counter-protesters injuring at least 19 people and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Wes Bellamy is the Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville which is where we reached him today.

MF: Wes Bellamy hello.

WES BELLAMY: Hello.

MF: How are things in Charlottesville today.

WB: Things are getting better we're having a community conversation tonight. I think people are encouraged. The thing that I love about our city is that people, even in the midst of adversity, we always take care of each other. I think about what was going on, on Saturday even while all of the melee was taking place. There were there was a community give away with a group of young brothers who gave away about 150 to 200 book bags and school supplies. So I mean, I think that represents Charlottesville. We will move forward from this. We will move on. We will become even stronger. Even as I'm losing my voice, we're still going to continue to fight.

MF: You witnessed the first white supremacist march on Friday night. Could you describe what that was like?

WB: It was just a bunch of cowards, with tiki torches from Wal-Mart, trying to intimidate a bunch of people outside of a church. And they decided to walk over to a college and surround a bunch of college students. These people are cowards.

MF: But how did it, I guess, how did it feel to see that going on in Charlottesville and in your town?

WB: To a certain extent it was somewhat surreal. But again I've learned in this profession you have to expect the unexpected. These individuals want to try and invoke fear in people. But again we're not going to allow them to do so.

MF: On Saturday were you able to circulate much? I understand that you were told to stay indoors and to stay away for your own safety.

WB: I was, but like I said, I was out pretty much all day. I was at the sunrise service I helped lead the march.

MF: Why was it important for you despite the risk? Because you have been…

WB: Because these people don't scare me. These people don't scare any of us and they don't scare our community. They've been sending death threats to me for a year-and-a-half now. These individuals again, are cowards, and it doesn't mean that we underestimate them and we don't take them seriously. But this message of white supremacy that they're trying to send is not going to work, period.

MF: Organizers of the rally chose Charlottesville because of your city council’s stand to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee.

WB: No they did not. This isn't about a statue, this is about white supremacy. And they believe that there’s an African-American Vice-Mayor who, as they stated, is getting too big for his britches. We have a Jewish Mayor, who they also dislike, and they believe that because we are pushing for equity and we are pushing very hard and I admit I've been probably leading some of that charge along with my colleagues. They feel as if they're being, quote unquote, infringed upon. That is what this about. Do not allow them to hide their hate behind the statue.

MF: You've been pretty critical of President Trump for not calling out the white supremacist groups directly involved in the march and notably over the weekend. He talked about blame on all sides. Have a listen to what he was saying earlier today.

SOUNDCLIP

DONALD TRUMP: Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

MF: How satisfied are you with that?

WB: Well, I mean his comments are what they are. But at the same time I think it's to be notated that 45 still chose to, and I quote, and I quote. The president insisted on putting those economic remarks at the top of his statement, before he got to the events in Charlottesville, before he got to his denunciation of the KKK and other hate groups. This wasn't even at the top. This didn’t get it’s own separate press conference to denounce these groups? That’s 45 for you though.

MF: So why do you call him 45 and not Donald Trump?

WB: I call him Donald Trump. I call him Donald Chump. His name is 45, and that’s just who he is to me. When he decides to show the leadership of respecting the highest office in the land, that’s when I’ll call him President Trump. But to me he's been a divisive of individuals at the start of his campaign. He's an individual who hasn't done anything to bring our country together. And in my personal opinion he has been one who has emboldened and empowered these coward groups and these white supremacist neo nazis. When you have David Duke, leader of the Ku Klux Klan, come out and say that came to Charlottesville to fulfill the promise of their president. And then he couldn't immediately come out and denounce them. It took three days, or two days rather. And it took nearly everyone shaming him to do so, that doesn't earn my respect. And again, I'm not a perfect person. I have a past and I haven't always been perfect. I know I’ve matured into the person I am today, much of that due to the city of Charlottesville, and it makes me even more upset because I love this city so much. This city essentially taught me how to be a man and for him to disrespect and not disavow those groups it infuriates me.

MF: Wes Bellamy, thank you very much.

WB: Thank you sir. Have a great day.

MF: You too.

RD: Wes Bellamy is the Vice-Mayor of Charlottesville and that is where we reached him. On Facebook Heather Heyer wrote quote, “If you're not outraged you're not paying attention.” And according to those who knew the 32-year-old Charlottesville native she kept that mantra until she died on Saturday afternoon. Ms. Heyer was struck and killed when a Dodge Challenger sped into a crowd of counter-protesters at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville. Her father Mark Heyer spoke to a reporter in Sharpes, Florida today where he lives. Here's part of what he said about his daughter.

SOUNDCLIP

MARK HEYER: My daughter was this strong woman that had passionate opinions about the equality of everyone and she tried to stand up for that, and with her it wasn't lip service. It was real. You know, it was something that she wanted to share with everyone. My thoughts about all of this stuff, is that people need to stop hating and they need to forgive each other. I include myself in that in forgiving the guy that did this. He don't know no better. My daughter's life, she’s—I’m proud of her, proud of her for standing up. She had more courage than I did. She had a stubborn backbone. If she thought she was right, she would stand there and defy you. But if I understand her she wanted to do it peacefully and you know, with the fierceness of heart that comes with her conviction. I hope that her life and what has transpired changes people's hearts; makes them consider this. I mean because think about it, you can fight all you want and fuss and cuss and doing all that stuff, but when you take your last breath it's over, it's done. You going to take away what a person has and everything else they're going to have. There is no more you know. And that's that's pretty much all I got brother.

RD: That was Mark Heyer speaking to a reporter in Sharpes, Florida today about his daughter Heather Heyer, and we'll have more on this story coming up later in the show.

[Music: Ambient Strings]

RD: Chrystia Freeland was back in Ottawa this morning. The foreign affairs minister was there to give parliamentarians a preview of the upcoming NAFTA talks. Minister Freeland insisted that one thing was in everyone's interest, improved environmental rules. That prompted some questions from reporters afterwards. After all, Donald Trump is the president of the United States, and he's made it very clear that he has no interest in what the Trudeau government sees as the most important environmental issue of them all. Could the United States and Canada really be on the same page. Here's foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland responding in the foyer outside the house of commons.

SOUNDCLIP

FOREIGN AFFAIR MINSTER CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Look on the environment, it's no secret to anyone that Canada has a different view of probably the most important step the world has taken when it comes to the fight against climate change, which is the Paris Accords. Canada is an energetic and enthusiastic participant in, and supporter of, the Paris Accords. And we, like most Canadians, are aware that this U.S. administration has chosen to withdraw from the Paris Accords and as the Prime Minister said at the time, we're disappointed about that. Having said that, hang on let me finish the answer. Having said that, we continue to work at all levels of government with the U.S. on the environment, in terms of environmental provisions in NAFTA particularly here I see a real opportunity for us to work hand-in-hand with the U.S. administration that shares our goal of ensuring that our workers do not suffer unfairly from the higher standards that our economy, that our people wish us to have rightly in areas like the environment and like labor.

RD: That was Canada's minister of foreign affairs Chrystia Freeland speaking in Ottawa earlier today.

[Music]

Bees Study

Guest: Nigel Raine

RD: Bumblebees are crucial for pollination. So it's bad news that a new study finds that we may be doing them more harm than good. Now that might sound like an old study. By this point we've all heard all kinds of research that humans are doing all kinds of things that are terrible for bees. But this time it's not the rank and file bees who are being affected. It's the queens. And according to the study in the Journal Nature, Ecology and Evolution, the culprit is one you might recognize from previous research, pesticides. Nigel Raine is an environmental science professor at the University of Guelph and the author of this study.

MF: Nigel Raine hello.

PROFESSOR NIGEL RAINE: Hello.

MF:These pesticides specifically they're called neonicotinoids?

NR: That's right.

MF: What exactly happens to the queen bumblebees when they're exposed to them?

NR: Well we’ve found that the queen's change their behavior substantially when they're exposed to these pesticides, for a relatively short period of time, at a very low concentration. In our experiment we found that bumblebee queens exposed to the new look tonight were 26 per cent less likely to lay eggs and start a colony when they've been exposed.

MF: And paint us a picture of what that means if their ability to lay eggs is that compromised? What does that mean to the colonies?

NR: Well, if they don't lay eggs, that means there is no colony. So that kind of reduction means there will be substantially fewer colonies in any given landscape given that kind of pesticide exposure. When we try and work out what that means in a year on year scenario we found that, that kind of effect size could could increase the probability of the likelihood of populations actually failing entirely or becoming extinct, by upwards of 28 per cent. So it could be a really big change in adding in additional stress to bee populations that are already struggling to find the floral resources they need, the nectar and pollen they need in landscapes and are dealing with increasingly unpredictable weather conditions, which means that they may not be emerging at the right times to match the sort of flowers they need to find. So we know that climate change and other factors like the amount of food in the landscape is important for bees and adding in pesticides on top of that may be maybe causing a big problem beyond that.

MF: And how common are those neonicotinoids?

NR: Well they're very common indeed. We're using them very widely in agriculture. They're the most widely used class of pesticide in the world at the moment and they're used extensively as seed treatments and in field crops like corn, soy and canola. So their taken up from the seed by the plant into all of the tissues which protect the plant from these pest insects. But the unintended consequences of that are that these active pesticides are also present and the nectar and pollen of these treated crops and the bees visit those flowers, collect the nectar and pollen, eat it themselves and feed it to their to their young as well. So these bees can potentially be exposed for a substantial period of time, many weeks, or even months in some cases, as the colonies develop. So this can be a low level process that can happen over quite a long period of time and even though these pesticides are not killing these bees outright, these changes to behavior we've previously found changes to foraging behavior in individual bees. But this is this is perhaps even more important than the queens are not not found in colonies are not laying eggs. These can be quite important.

MF: So what needs to be done to stop this from happening and to enable the queens to continue doing what they have to do to start colonies?

NR: We need to holistically support wild bees in landscapes. We need to provide the sort of flowers that they need, the nesting sites that they need, particularly in the spring for the queens when they're under stress. We need to actually match pesticide use where we need to use it to the pest pressures and reduce that when it's not necessary, so try and avoid that. I think there are there are situations where it is easier to use these pesticides as those as a seed treatment, almost like an insurance policy on the crop in case the pests come out.

And I think the changes that are happening, or have happened, in Ontario to reduce usage on corn and soy are starting to get it that in some way that the onus is now to prove that there is a need a pest pressure that requires that tool to be used, that pesticide to be used rather than any other before they seed treatments can be used. And that's starting to match use to need and minimise those consequences to important bees.

MF: Nigel Raine thanks very much.

NR: Thanks for your time.

MF: Bye bye

NR: Bye.

RD: Nigel Raine is an environmental science professor at the University of Guelph. He recently studied the link between pesticides and the decline of bees, and we reached him in Guelph.

[Music: Violin]

Banana Scorpion

Guest: Nathan Coleman

RD: This past weekend Halifax man came back from shopping at Costco with something he had not expected. That's not surprising of course. You always wind up bringing home with 70 kilo tub of something you hadn't planned to buy, just ask my wife. But Nathan Coleman’s case he had a much smaller unexpected purchase; something with a lot of legs that had crawled into his bag of bananas. Nathan Coleman is a reporter with The Weather Network and we reached him in Halifax Nova Scotia.

MF: Nathan hello.

NATHAN COLEMAN: Hello Michael.

MF: When did you realize you had something strange in your bananas?

NC: Well it was actually my daughter who discovered it. I was in the living room at the time. She was putting away the groceries we picked up at Costco and she came into the living room holding the bag in the air, saying there's something in here and we could see it. My mother was in the living room with me and I thought it looked like a worm or a slug or something.

MF: And what did your mother think it was?

NC: Well she's the one who nailed it. And it was a scorpion.

MF: Jeez. Now when she said that, did you believe her?

NC: No [laughs] I didn't think it could be scorpion. She actually lived in Texas along the border of Mexico before, so that's how she said she knew. But I got up, took the bag in the kitchen and looked at it, and it did appear to be a scorpion.

[Laughs]

MF: What convinced you?

NC: I could see the tail kind of sticking up, you know, it just looked like a little scorpion and it turned out it was a scorpion.

MF: So this is all dawning on you, what's going on in your head at this point?

NC: The first thing I thought to do was to get another Ziploc bag so it was sealed up, because the bag it was in had holes in it. And then also, I'm a reporter, so my journalistic instincts began tingling and I got my phone out and shot a quick selfie video saying wow, “I'm holding a scorpion in a bag of bananas here,” so it was quite incredible. Then I immediately also called the Costco warehouse and let them know, you know, you need to get down and check out the rest of the bananas there because it was a very close call. I also have a baby. It's scary to think that that was just hanging out in our kitchen.

MF: How did that phone call play out?

NC: I was in a bit of a panic when I called them and they said thank you. And that was it for the time being. And then I thought to call the museum of natural history because I'd interviewed an insect expert down there, and so I knew that they take in weird bugs. So I immediately took it down and handed it off to a naturalist there.

MF: They ID’ed it right away as a scorpion?

NC: Yeah. They said it was a scorpion, and they put it in a little glass jar and then they actually, I was there and they took a cricket and put it in with a scorpion to see if it would sting it. And they said they're going to wait until, to give them a call back on Monday.

MF: And what's going on with the scorpion now?

NC: Well, I went in today and it is now dead. They actually determined that they had to kill it because it was too dangerous. It was a venomous scorpion and they didn't feel comfortable having it there. So that's even scarier.

MF: Through this whole process, when you were trying to figure out, you know, how to transport the scorpion and all of that, where is your family in all of this? Are they cowering in the corner or are they right there are we helping out?

NC: They're helping out. My mother actually came with me to the museum. My daughter was a little bit freaked out. My wife was freaked out as well. You know, it's so rare that you would have a scorpion. If it was a spider I think it would be less shocking.

MF: What's your daughter think now about all of this?

NC: You know she's not really scared by it. I think there is a lot of excitement. We are talking about it all weekend long, but she's a strong girl and she's got a story to tell her friends when she gets back to school.

MF: So what do you think Costco might have done differently, or what kind of conversation have you had with them about that?

NC: Well the warehouse manager called me on Saturday and he said he would like to apologize. Then I got a call from Del Monte and she apologized, and she said they’re working to see how it happened.

MF: Well that's it. How did it get in there?

NC: Well the answer I got it shows that they may be using less insecticides. This wouldn't have happened in the olden days apparently, but that could mean there would be more incidents like this.

MF: I didn't know scorpions liked bananas.

NC: I didn’t either.

[Laughing]

MF: What happened to the bananas? Have you eaten them?

NC: No. We still have them here, and I asked again today are they safe. He said they should be safe. They have, you know, the banana peel. So we'll probably eat.

MF: Nathan thanks for speaking to us, we appreciate it.

NC: Oh it's great being on. Thank you.

MF: Bye bye.

RD: Nathan Coleman is a reporter with The Weather Network. He and his family discovered a scorpion inside a bag of bananas they brought home in their groceries this past weekend. And we reached him in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Part 2: Charlottesville attack: Schweitzer, Daisy Sweeney obit, Sierra Leone mudslide, 2017 World Pipe Band Championships

Charlottesville attack: Schweitzer

Guest: Doug Schweitzer

RD: A Canadian media outlet’s video of the Charlottesville attack continues to circulate around the world. Faith Goldie of the rebel was on the scene when a car plowed through a crowd of protesters killing one. But it's what Miss Goldy and her colleagues were saying before the attack that has an Alberta politician concerned. This from the broadcast shortly before the attack took place.

SOUNDCLIP

FAITH GOLDY: There’s a full-on demonstration going on in the streets. Hundreds and hundreds of Antifa and weird BLM. It’s just like clowns and they’re just taking to the street.

[noise of the crowd in the background]

This is OK, so long as you’re not the alt-right. The alt-right wasn’t allowed to demonstrate any show of force. The alt-right wasn’t allowed to legally exercise their permit.

[chants of Black Lives Matter]

BLM and all of a sudden the cops don’t care. Where’s the riot police?

RD: That was Faith Goldy on The Rebel broadcasting from Charlottesville on Saturday. Now a candidate for the leadership of Alberta’s new United Conservative Party is accusing the Canadian media outlet of quote, “defending Nazis,” in its Charlottesville coverage. His name is Doug Schweitzer and he doesn't stop there. Mr. Schweitzer has also tweeted that his rivals in the leadership race accusing them of giving The Rebel what he calls a “pass.” And we reached Doug Schweitzer in Calgary.

MF: Doug Schweitzer, hello.

DOUG SCHWEITZER: Hello. Thanks for having me on.

MF: What did you mean when you tweeted, “just watched the rebel TV feed from Charlottesville. Absolutely wrong. Jason Kenny Brian Gene you can't give them a pass?”

DS: You know what, this is just one of those situations where when the rebel media first came out it was a bit of a fresh voice, you know on issues. But over the last while it slowly evolved into a platform that advocates, or allows for the advocation of, you know, white supremacy, hate, neo-Nazis and that simply isn't good enough. We're seeing this in, you know, that alt-right movement in the United States and we simply can't let that come to Canada.

MF: That's a serious allegation against The Rebel Media. What exactly have they done that you think advances white supremacy?

DS: Well it's simply, I mean, on that tape for example, they were offering kind of soft support to kind of the white movement. And you know soft support to white supremacists until the end, until that tragic event we know where the person died. And you know what, you take a look at that, along with other commentary and their participation in some of these events that's going on in the United States in particular, and here in Canada we have to stand up and say, “no not here not in Canada, we're not going to be a part of this, we're not going to facilitate that platform.” And I'm tired of conservative politicians playing footsie with this organization. That's not to condemn people that have been on there in the past. The Rebel Media has evolved and what it has evolved into today is simply just not acceptable.

MF: You did have though Jason Kenney and Brian Jean both tweeting out over the weekend. I'll give you Jason Kenny's first, “So sad to see. Vile, racist, spectacle in Virginia. Hatred has now turned to violence. Those responsible attack all that is best about America. Brian Jean, “White supremacists have no place in our society. I echo my colleague Doug Schweitzer in condemning what is happening.” What do you make of those tweets. Are they not enough?

DS: No, I don't think that they are enough. I mean it's one thing to condemn the events. Those are tragic events. Now the main focus of my tweet though, that I sent it on the weekend, was the fact that we can't allow these platforms that allow for the facilitation of hate to continue and be a part of it. We can't play footsie with this anymore. The alt-right has no room in our new United Conservative Party here in Alberta. And I'm calling on Brian Jean and Jason Kenney to not participate any longer in this Rebel Media platform.

MF: So what is that going to mean? What, no one gives any interviews to the rebel media at all from now on?

DS: I think yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. Until they stop allowing for the facilitation of the movement of this racism, no.

MF: The rebel media was not given accreditation for the United Nations COP22 Climate Conference in Marrakesh in November, and it was the Canadian Association of Journalists who came to the defense saying that just imagine if institutions could just at will bar news organizations they thought were not friendly to their cause, you wouldn't have a whole lot of reporters on Parliament Hill left over. If the Canadian Association of Journalists is willing to step up and defend The Rebel, isn't there a point to letting them continue to do political coverage with access to you?

DS: No. You know what, they've crossed the line here in the west, and it's evolved even since then. It is to the point now where you don't need to participate in an organization that helps facilitate this. It's creating this toxic environment in our society. I thought a long time ago, when I was younger, I didn't think that I'd have to come on and deal with racism and deal with this in my generation. But enough is enough. We cannot allow for the facilitation of this in Canada. I'm sorry enough's enough.

MF: What response to be had from The Rebel to your tweets?

DS: I mean The Rebel Media is coming after me hard. They're spinning the truth, they’re coming after me with false allegations. They're trying to, you know, get their base of supporters to come after me. But you know what, that's being met, time and time again, by reasonable people across the board. And they are in there fighting back, and they're pushing back against this half-truth type of politics, this half-truth type of journalism. And I think the people are on our side. They're tired of this rhetoric. They're tired of organizations allowing for the spread of hate.

MF: You know many of the people in Alberta who enjoy and consume The Rebel Media news organization and the different feeds that they have, would consider voting for the United Conservative Party. Should they?

DS: This is what this leadership race is all about. What are the values of the United Conservative Party? And that's what we're campaigning on— an optimistic vision for the future of this province. We put forward the largest tax relief in Alberta history, we've put forward a plan to get Alberta back working again, getting people jobs again. That in the value set of this new party, you know, people want it to succeed. But the leaders of this new party need to make sure that our values are in line with Alberta values.

MF: Are people who are staunch defenders of The Rebel Media, are they welcome within the United Conservatives, should they vote for the United Conservatives?

DS: Well you know what, if people want to advocate for hate, or if people want to advocate for divisive issues, you know what, maybe a different home for them. But you know there are a lot of good people that watch The Rebel, that listen to The Rebel and they advocate for different issues. I'm not here calling that out. I'm here definitively going against The Rebel platform itself for making sure that it does no longer facilitate hate.

MF: You have been accused in some quarters of trying to take advantage of this weekend's events in Charlottesville. Is that fair?

DS: No, this is just simply a proof point. When people are paying attention to what's happening and the type of coverage that The Rebel Media is providing to these organizations is simply not good enough. And this is simply a time where people can really reflect on what platforms are available, how are they getting their information.

MF: Should white supremacists stay away from the United Conservative Party? Are they welcome there?

DS: No they're not welcome in the United Conservative Party.

MF: And should they consider even voting for them?

DS: Well they’re just not welcome in the Conservative Party.

MF: Where does this go from here do you think?

DS: Well hopefully it sparks a conversation, and conservatives across Canada in Alberta in particular we need to have this discussion because we cannot allow the further facilitation of hate and platforms that allow for it to get them to give it a megaphone.

MF: Because there are people who formerly were involved with The Rebel who are now working on political campaigns. In fact, one worked on Andrew Shear's campaign. I think one is working with one of your rivals campaigns. Should members of The Rebel be a part of the political apparatus for the United Conservatives and the Conservative Party more broadly?

DS: Well right now I'd say no. Right now we've called on Brian Jean and Jason Kenney to disavow and to basically call out The Rebel Media for what its current conduct is like. Yeah and Brian Jean's campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, is you know he's on the board of The Rebel. You know Jason Kenney has long relationships with Ezra Levant who has been on the show numerous times and enough is enough. Conservative politicians need to be better. There was a time when conservative politicians stood up to racism, when we stood up to this stuff and we fought against it, and we cannot be you know playing footsie with it anymore.

MF: Doug Schweitzer thank you very much for your time appreciate it.

DS: Thank you very much.

RD: Doug Schweitzer is running for the leadership of Alberta as United Conservative Party. We spoke to him earlier today in Calgary. After our interview with Mr. Schweitzer, Ezra Levant, the founder of The Rebel released a memo to his staff it reads in part quote, “The events in Charlottesville and our coverage of them have become fodder for our critics, who are desperate to paint us as racist or even neo-Nazi. It's bizarre. I'm a proud Jew myself and we have people of a variety of races and backgrounds working with us. Simply covering controversial figures doesn't mean we agree with those controversial figures, it means we're covering the news not just covering Justin Trudeau socks. So let me sum up our position. We're not alt-right. We are conservatives as opposed to socialists. We are nationalist as opposed to globalists. We believe in having borders as opposed to Merkel and Trudeau style migration. We are opposed to identity politics inherent in state multiculturalism and affirmative action, and we do not support countervailing white nationalism as a response,”unquote.

[Music]

Daisy Sweeney obit

RD: Daisy Sweeney may not have had the instant name recognition of her famous, jazz-playing brother, Oscar Peterson, but he owed at least some of his sound to her, and so did countless other young people she instructed throughout her life, including other notable jazz musicians like Oliver Jones and Joe Seeley. Daisy Sweeney died on Friday. She was 97 years old. She was, in fact, Oscar Peterson's first piano instructor and with aspirations of becoming a concert pianist she put herself through McGill University by doing domestic work. Eventually she turned to instructing at Montreal's Negro community center where she taught for four decades. And in the mid-70s she co-founded what would become the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir. As her daughter Sylvie Sweeney told CBC's DAYBREAK quote, “She worked her way through adversity and demanded that of everyone who ever sat her piano bench,” unquote. In 1973 she was a guest on CBC Radio’s That Midnight Jazz where she shared with producer Henry Whitson how she believed her brother was shaped by his early classical influences.

SOUNDCLIP

DAISY SWEENEY: I somehow regret that he was unable to have a full of classical training because as you speak of short comings, at times I do see a need, a feeling in him, something that he might have wanted to convey to someone else in words that limited him from doing this. Of course when you’re a natural this is a part of it. But you also take from this the musical surroundings that you have. And in him for instance this list is the control that you find of Beethoven, the giant control. There’s the romantic Debussy and Chopin. These all come through in his music, and you have to wonder, isn't there more, you know, that he would like to control in a particular manner? Because sometimes you see it all coming out in one thing, and in the case of a jazz musician it’s composition as well as performance. Everything else. I feel unfortunately that the classic person is unable to have the same opportunity to be broadened because there's a certain freedom that you can have in Jazz playing and classical playing, first of all you’re confined. And then you're free to break out.

HENRY WHITSON: Was Oscar more or less a rebel in the family? That perhaps one of the reasons why you might want to get to freedom Jazz would bring him as opposed to more serious study?

DS: No, I think it is a matter again, of the depression, that he was unable to have his studies fully financed as most people would. And he picked up what he heard on the records and radio, but he was the one ironically who pointed out to me at an early age the different parts of music

RD: From our archives that's Daisy Sweeney speaking with Henry Whitson on CBC Radios That Midnight Jazz in May of 1973. Daisy Sweeney died on Friday. She was 97.

[Music: Trance]

Sierra Leone Mudslide

Guest: Ishmael Alfred Charles

RD: The rain started early Monday morning on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Soon it turned into something terrifying— waves of brownish-red soil bowling over homes, ripping up bridges and carrying families away. According to the Red Cross today's mudslide in Sierra Leone has left more than 300 people dead and 1000 others displaced. Ishmael Alfred Charles has been helping with the relief efforts since early this morning. He's the program manager for Caritas relief and development organization in Sierra Leone. We reached him in Freetown.

MF: Ishmael hello.

ISHMAEL ALFRED CHARLES: Yes hello.

MF: It's been a heartbreaking day for the families and really difficult as well to grasp the extent of what happened. And I know you've just come back from the morgue. What was the scene there?

IAC: The scene at the morgue was a very scary one. You can imagine how disastrous and unimaginable it is to see so many corpses being brought in and it's very a heart wrenching scene. And imagine how those people could have actually died from a very painful incident that actually just the occurred, which they never imagined will actually happen to them. And so far it's a total of three hundred and twenty five that we were able to count before we left. And you know since I came back there are about five or six ambulances that have been passing by, and still going on with more corpses to the morgue.

MF: So when did people get enough of a sense of the seriousness of the situation to realize that they needed to flee?

IAC: Well people didn't have any, a lot of people didn't have any sense or information to be able to flee. So that's one of the reasons why the disaster and the fatality was so huge, because people didn't have any signal. There was absolutely no signal, no mechanism for a signal and no preparedness in its entirety. So the majority of them actually just got into, just you know, got drowned on the just under the under the mudslide that actually took away so many precious lives.

MF: Sometimes when you hear the word mudslide, the word slide can be deceptive, but the video images I've seen are of a raging, roaring type of almost mud-river. What was it like. By the accounts you've heard.

IAC: You know no one is able to give a comprehensive account. People just heard the sound. This big sound like, BOOM! And you know, you're worried about what's going on, and then when people's pets neighbors within the areas that are affected directly started opening the doors and checking what's going on they realize that this is how disastrous it is. That's how, with the power of social media many people started taking pictures, and sending pictures to their relatives and things like that that quickly spread within and around Freetown and news got far and wide and many people rush to see what's going on.

MF: How close did you get to the site of the mudslide?

IAC: I was extremely close. I was exactly where the military guys and the youth volunteers who are actually helping to still search into the into the mud for you know corpses that are already been covered they're still digging up and searching. That's how close I got.

MF: I mean, that sounds awful.

IAC: It is very awful. It is absolutely very awful. And of course if you’re also at the at the mortuary you see lots of people who are bringing people in. Some people actually come in body bags and in parts, it's only the parts that we can find an arm, or two hands and or leg. And so you know, just parts of an individual so you can see how terrifying and terrible it has been.

MF: And what about survivors?

IAC: Survivors are actually very limited. The reason why survivor was a little like I’ve indicated is because at the given time that's the disaster occurred didn't create enough room for people to be able to escape. It happened at a time when it was still dark, and it was sleeping time, so the people were still in their bedrooms, you know, still sleeping when the unfortunate incident happened. So there were a very limited number of survivors.

MF: How do you think the Sierra Leonean government has done in response?

Well, the Sierra Leonean government has done its own part. The office of national security, which is the designated government agency that has a responsibility for emergency management, has been very active on the ground. They’ve already set up three emergency response centres for coordination and comprehensive management of the whole process.

MF: The Vice President today is quoted as saying that he's seen things so serious that he himself feels broken. You've seen an awful lot today. Things you probably never imagined you would see. How are you?

IAC: The truth is I have a lot growing in my brain because it's a very devastating situation that you'll never imagine will happen. And it's, very difficult to see people in such a pain and you really can't help in saving their lives because they've already been consumed by the slide that happened. I was fortunate to meet with one man who actually unfortunately did lose 17 of his family members, and he couldn't even speak. You can imagine the kind of agony and pain that he will be going through because he left his house this morning for a walk, and then came back and saw no one there. There's no there's no house anymore and there's no family members 17 of his family members are washed off. And unfortunately this is what I get to see all the time in my life. I was a former child soldier, and I get to see a lot of horrible things. And also in 2014 I worked very much on the field during Ebola, when the country had an Ebola outbreak. So it's very stressful to see all this difficult and painful things happening to people all the time.

MF: Ishmail Thanks for telling us about it. Really appreciate it.

IAC: Thank you very much.

RD: Ishmael Alfred Charles is the Program Manager for Caritas, a relief and development organization in Sierra Leone,aAnd we reached him in Freetown.

[Music: Synthesizer Keys]

2017 World Pipe Band Championships

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First place on world champions for 2017 Inveraray & District

RD: That was the cheer that went up Saturday evening on Glasgow Green, a park in Glasgow. As Inveraray & District Pipe Band learned that they had just become the world's best pipe band for 2017. Now, it was a tremendous accomplishment for the band from Scotland's west coast, and not just because they represent the best of the 219 bands from around the world who participated, but also because Inveraray & District is such a young band, having formed in 2004. In just six years, under the tutelage of pipe Major Stuart Little, they rose to Grade One, the top tier of competitive bagpiping. And this year they beat out seasoned veterans to claim the top prize, like 11-time champions Field Marshal Montgomery from Northern Ireland, who placed second. The entire event was streamed live online by the BBC with world class piper Bob Worrall of Ontario providing the color commentary. Here's some of what he had to say about Inveraray as they marched off the field following their March/Strathspey & Reel set or MSR musically.

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BOB WORRALL:

Musically I really enjoyed that. Tonally I thought it was superb. The bands are playing at a much higher pitch these days, and they're playing a high pitch with a good full rich top ends and I really enjoy that so tonally I think that should put them in good standing with adjudicators.

RD: That was Piper and BBC commentator Bob Worrall of Ontario reflecting on a performance by Scotland's Inveraray & District Pipe Band on Saturday. The band returned to the field for the compulsory medley set before being crowned the 2017 World Champs.

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August 14, 2017 episode transcript

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