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The AIH Transcript for April 19, 2021

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello. I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

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CH: Tonight:

CO: Help wanted. As COVID cases threaten to overwhelm Ontario ICUs, the government is asking other provinces for help, but a doctor tells us extra staff alone will not be enough.

CH: Spoiled ballots. Somalia's president has postponed elections indefinitely and signed a law extending his own time in office by two years. And now he's facing an electoral battle of another kind.

CO: Promises, promises. The new federal budget packs all kinds of pledges and plans into its 700-plus pages. But NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says the Liberals need to actually put their money where their mouth is.

CH: None hit wonder. A north Texas pitcher makes history for her university softball team by striking out all 21 batters in a row for a perfect game.

CO: Frozen accounts. An anonymous donor on Prince Edward Island is provided hundreds of happy children with ice cream cones. But no one has the inside scoop on who is responsible for the outside scoops

CH: And just doing what re-suits him. A guy in a teddy bear costume is walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco to raise money, mostly to buy another teddy bear costume. As It Happens. The Monday Edition. Radio that admits the details are a little fuzzy.

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Part 1: This doctor almost quit Ontario's COVID-19 scientific advisory table over Ford's response

Covid Ontario Help

Guest: Peter Juni

CH: Ontario is sending out an SOS. Amid escalating numbers of COVID cases and hospital admissions, Premier Doug Ford is asking other provinces and the federal government to send help fast. Ontario needs doctors and nurses to deal with overwhelmed hospitals, a situation that's all but certain to worsen in the next few weeks. One province that is trying to step up to help is P.E.I.. Here's Premier Dennis King speaking earlier today.

DENNIS KING: [SOUNDCLIP: We will try to do what we can. Both Premier Ford and Prime Minister Trudeau know that our health, human resources in Prince Edward Island aren't in over abundance. But all of that said, we will try to do our part. I'm proud of how we've largely fought off that "me first" and "only me" mentality. Throughout this pandemic, we have remained committed to our island values. And to me that is as much the story of COVID as anything else. So in the face of great difficulty and uncertainty for our family, our friends, our neighbours, our fellow Canadians in Ontario, we have been asked to see if we can do a little bit to help. And we are trying very hard to respond to that request, just like I know Canadians from all parts of the country would do the same if it were Prince Edward Island making the request of them. We look out for each other. That's what we do as Canadians.]

CH: That was P.E.I. Premier Dennis King today. Meanwhile, doctors across Ontario are slamming the government's response to the crisis. Even though the province has belatedly been locked down once again, they say Premier Ford is refusing to acknowledge a major source of spread: essential workers who can't afford to take a day off if they're sick. Dr. Peter Juni is the director of Ontario's COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Table. We reached him in Toronto.

CO: Dr. Juni, should the people of Ontario expect the cavalry to arrive from other provinces and save them from this crisis?

PETER JUNI: Look, I think we need help here and we need all the help we can get right now. Our health care system is in a very precarious situation. And we just need to be aware of right now, especially what's happening on the intensive care units right now and what will be coming in the future that is already baked in based on the case numbers we're seeing will be very very challenging. So we need all the help we can get.

CO: And so what do you think? What does Ontario need most from other provinces?

PJ: What I see right now already happening is that health care workers are being redeployed to help whatever is needed. So when you think about that, you know, all the help is needed. You know, I didn't quite understand that some help was actually rejected. We have right now still medical doctors out there who do vaccinations, for example. Somebody else could do that on their behalf. And the medical doctors could actually be redeployed to help in other more acute health care settings, for example, including sometimes stepping in the role of ICU nurses after, you know, appropriate training to help on intensive care units.

CO: What did you expect from the Ontario government that you haven't seen happen?

PJ: I expected the Ontario government to listen. You cannot control a pandemic by political considerations. If you have a pandemic and if you understand what this is all about with the exponential growth that actually is just dominating the picture we're in right now, if you understood the nature of that, you start to understand that compromises don't work in this situation. Compromises between short term political gain and appropriate public health measures will hurt everybody, including the economy.

CO: But you're on the COVID Scientific Advisory Panel to the province of Ontario. What advice is being ignored if you're saying that they're not doing this the right way? What advice do you think that the Ontario government has not taken for this crisis?

PJ: Look, we have just various aspects that are very challenging. We made clear from January onwards that there is a challenge coming with the new variants of concern. We described from then onwards what would be coming. And so the first aspect was in our opening in February and then new restrictions too late. This was already very challenging, but then it continues. You know, if you ignore that the nature of this pandemic is basically now that it affects to a large extent essential workers and their families, and you continue to ignore that you would need a really efficient paid sick leave system that ensures that money is just being paid to people in the moment when they need to stay home because they were exposed or are symptomatic so that all of us are protected and their families hopefully still are protected, etc.. If you ignore this part, you basically don't address the root cause. You know what really was very challenging for many of my colleagues and for myself on Friday is to see, 'Oh okay what we have here now is continued disregard of paid sick leave. And on the other hand, we have measures that actually increase inequity.' We have a pandemic that is dominated by inequities and we have no measures that even increase equity. What policing? That, again, will affect essential workers most just in neighbourhoods that are more challenged. And closing outdoor spaces, including playgrounds, tennis courts, you name it, whatever. This is not a problem for people like me who have a backyard. But for people who actually are in challenging situations already economically, who live in a flat somewhere in a tower, you know, you take away the last possibility to go out and to play with their children, etc. So all of that was just not really well.

CO: Because people maybe outside of Ontario may not have followed this closely what happened on Friday in this press conference when the Ontario government closed playgrounds temporarily until they changed their mind, made all kinds of restrictions but said nothing about the areas where we've seen the hardest hit of COVID, which is the factories, the warehouses, the packing plants. What was your response?

PJ: To be honest, it was just desperate. I couldn't believe it. If you are in a situation like this, leadership means you need to own the problem and you need to fix it without political considerations. Basically it results in a lack of the control of the pandemic. And in the situation we're in, which is dire already, we can't afford this anymore.

CO: How close did you come to resigning on Friday from the scientific advisory table?

PJ: Well I was really at a loss what to do. And life has taught me in the past in these situations, you need to be ready to let go. So I was absolutely ready to let go and basically just step down if this really would make a difference and to move things into the right direction. It became very clear that probably if I would do that, it would make things even worse because there would be a vacuum. And the same holds, I think, for many of my colleagues who have become friends meanwhile, at the science table. People are really doing that for the people of Ontario. This is not for the government. This is for the people that we are doing that. And we just keep working our arses off and hopefully achieve something.

CO: All right. We'll be watching. Dr. Juni thank you.

PJ: Thanks a lot for having me.

CH: Dr. Peter Juni is the director of Ontario's COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Table. We reached him in Toronto. And you can find more on the story on our webpage: cbc.ca/aih.

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Budget NDP Leader

Guest: Jagmeet Singh

CH: Canada has had its first federal budget in nearly two years. And after an outsized weight, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is presenting the country with some outsized numbers. The budget has money to pay for programs like wage subsidies and rent support that the government says we need to get through the resurgence of the pandemic. Then there are billions to rebuild with injections of stimulus money and the long awaited National Child Care Program. And there's also a deficit of more than 350-billion dollars. Erin O'Toole is not impressed. The Conservative leader went to the microphones before the finance minister's speech was even complete. Here's some of what he had to say.

ERIN O'TOOLE: [SOUNDCLIP: Justin Trudeau has moved too slow for this virus. It's racing ahead of us now and now he is slow in providing real help for Canadians in this budget. Unfortunately, this budget does next to nothing to secure the Canadian economy. Unemployed Canadians hoping to find work, workers who've had their wages cut due to lockdowns, and families hoping for lower taxes to pay down their mortgage or to save for their children's education -- they're all going to feel let down by this Liberal budget. They continue to be left behind by Mr. Trudeau. This budget will not secure the economy for unemployed Canadians and workers who have lost their jobs due to locked out families hoping to lower taxes and get ahead are not being listened to. They're all going to be asking for more.]

CH: That was Conservative leader Erin O'Toole in Ottawa today. Jagmeet Singh is the leader of the NDP. And we reached him in Ottawa

CO: Mr. Singh there seems to be money in this budget for everyone. Is there a red line in there that you would be unwilling to support?

JAGMEET SINGH: Well, my big concern is that after a year, though, it's been one of the most difficult years, people have lost their jobs, people lost their businesses, so many loved ones lost their lives. We were hoping that this budget would answer the question, who pays the price or pays for the recovery in the pandemic? And Justin Trudeau answered that by saying, well, it's not going to be the ultra-rich. He didn't put in a wealth tax to go after the fact that the ultra-rich have seen their wealth explode over this pandemic -- record profits. Everyday families are going to have to pay the price with medication not being covered, with paid sick leave not being improved, with the minimum wage not being increased. So the Liberals have chosen again to not make the ultra wealthy pay their fair share and instead put the burden on families.

CO: And what we're seeing is a lot of money being spent on people and families, which is going to give us a deficit of 354-billion dollars. But as you point out, very little in the way of new taxes. There's a new tax for luxury cars or aircraft and boats. Despite that wealth tax not being there, are you not seeing the money is going to be spent the way you would like to see it spent?

JS: Well, there's some key things that are missing. We want to see immediate help for paid sick leave. Workers are going to work sick. And experts say that's one of the best ways for us to keep people safe. And the Liberals failed to do that. They didn't bring in the increase to minimum wage. A lot of the workers at the federal level would benefit significantly. But the other concern that I have is that when it comes down to it, what we've seen from the Liberals, they promise child care for nearly three decades, it's been 27 years, and though they're saying the right things now, my concern is that Liberals often say one thing and then do another. They made it seem like pharmacare was going to be a priority in the election, they campaigned on it, included it into the throne speech and now completely walked away from it. So I'm concerned similarly with childcare, it's a great announcement, but is it really what they're going to do or will they walk away from it?

CO: Right. Doesn't it seem, though, that this is really sort of the marquee, the signature piece for Chrystia Freeland? This is extremely important to her, this child care component to it. So do you really think that she's not going to follow through on that?

JS: The Liberals have been promising this for nearly three decades. So to me, it seems like they're not afraid of breaking that promise. They've made it and broken it so many times. So I don't believe that they're going to fall through unless they're forced to. And we're going to keep on fighting to make sure people get help. We believe strongly in child care. And I want to acknowledge all the women who fought for child care for it to even have gotten this attention. There's so many people that have pushed hard. We have as well. But I want to see it actually happen. And that's my concern. Women have lost their jobs. They're stretched so thin with caring for children and elderly loved ones. We've got to see some support that really helps women out. And I want to see this happen.

CO: There are things in this budget -- and it's massive and we haven't had the chance to review it all, it's over 700-pages. But there are things that I know that you have championed, which is to see substantial increase to build and repair affordable housing units. There is 18-billion dollars for safer, healthier Indigenous communities -- I'm using their language. 17-dollars billion for emissions targets and a green recovery -- again, their language. Are not these things, the things you have been calling for?

JS: Will, there's certain things that we've been calling for. And again, I guess it comes down to a question of will there be follow through? We saw the Liberals commit to cleaning drinking water, to making sure that Indigenous communities would have clean drinking water. They had six years to do so, and then they admitted that they did not, they failed to meet their target. It was a choice they made. And now they're putting forward some commitments that sound more serious. But why didn't they do it six years ago? There's a lot of some good announcements. But with the Liberals we see regularly that they'll say the right things before an election or in an election, but then they don't follow through with it. And when they don't follow through, people end up paying the price.

CO: The remarks have been made earlier by Chrystia Freeland and others that the pandemic is a window of political opportunity. And so does it seem perhaps given this is a minority government and this is an extraordinary amount of spending -- I mean, when you look this sweeping, it's large across the board for a minority government to put that out, when you say you're worried that they won't follow through, does it seem they might because they look at this as a window of opportunity?

JS: My concern is that they've done this in the past and they've done it even when we were pushing for help for people. We said we need to keep people employed. And they said, okay, we'll start with a 10 percent wage subsidy covering 10 percent of people salary. That was not really enough to keep people employed. And we had to fight tooth and nail. And we did a joint letter with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, and Uniforce president and myself we were able to increase it to 75 percent. But we've seen again and again that the Liberals left to their own devices won't do what's necessary. We're here, we're ready, and willing partner. We've said when it comes to pharmacare or childcare, we want to make this happen. We are ready to make it happen.

CO: Okay. You want to see them follow through, but these are things you want to see done, you want to see this in the budget. So nothing here that would have the NDP say they're not going to support this minority government, nothing to see here that would mean that they would be defeated and we'd be into an election?

JS: Well, with respect to the election, I've been really clear -- Canadians have said the same thing and I agree -- it would be unjust to Canadians and it would be unfair to Canadians to have an election in this third wave. So I've made my commitment very clear that I will not be triggering an election. I do believe the Liberals have laid out a choice here in this budget where they've chosen to let the ultra wealthy off the hook. And so many people have reported on the vast inequality that has grown. The fact that you've got Jeff Bezos in Amazon making record profits. You've got Galen Weston and corporate grocery stores making record profits. But no effort to say we should make the wealthiest, the ultra-rich, pay their fair share. We should close tax loopholes. We should make Netflix, Google, and Amazon that make profits off Canadians, pay their fair share here. I would say that there's political will now to make the ultra-rich pay their fair share. And the Liberals miss that opportunity. Coming off of a pandemic into a recovery, people really want to see that they're not the ones that are going to be on the hook. They want to see investments in people. And we can do that by saying the ultra-rich who have profited in this pandemic, who have done very well in this pandemic, should be paying their fair share. And the Liberals chose not to do that, which to me is a pretty big sign of their priorities.

CO: We will leave it there. I'm sure we'll be talking about this at length in the future Mr. Singh. I appreciate speaking with you today. Thank you.

JS: Always an honour. Thank you.

CH: Jagmeet Singh is the NDP leader. We reached him in Ottawa.

Sean Fraser

Guest: Sean Fraser

CH: Sean Fraser is the parliamentary secretary to the finance minister. We reached him in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

CO: Mr. Fraser, we just heard Jagmeet Singh say that in principle, he likes a lot of what's in this budget, but he says that he's worried that the wrong people are going to have to pay for it: the taxpayers. And that it lacks a wealth tax -- it's one thing that the NDP wanted to see in this. Why are there no taxes on the ultra-rich in your budget?

SEAN FRASER: Well, look, before I point to the revenue side, I think it's important to maintain focus on what the budget does do which is continue the fight against COVID-19, focus on creating jobs and growth, and building an economy that is sustainable and inclusive on the back end of this pandemic. The reality is our strategy to pay for the measures that are included in this bill is really focussed on creating economic growth. Now, there are a series of measures that target the wealthiest Canadians included in this particular budget. But the focus is really ensuring that our economy grows so we can afford in the long term to continue to operate things like a national child care system, to make the kinds of investment that will allow us to achieve net zero, and ensure that the most vulnerable members of the economy are taken care of. I'm very proud of the work that we've done. But make no mistake, this budget is helping low income and middle class families, and we're not afraid to ask some of the wealthiest Canadians to pay a little bit more

CO: The amount of stimulus money, 100-billion dollars over three years. At the same time, many are pointing out that the economy has already been recovering, that the recession wasn't as deep as had been expected, that the economy is more resilient than we thought it would be, and also that Canadians have socked away a huge amount of savings, haven't they, about 100-billion dollars that they are ready to unleash on the economy. So is it really necessary for us to take on this much debt -- 354-billion dollar deficit in your first forecast?

SF: Well, the short answer to your question is yes. The cost of making these investments is far cheaper in the long run than not making these investments. You cited the phenomenon that we've seen, the economy bounced back. Now, I have some reservations given the recent developments from a public health point of view in Ontario. But prior to the third wave really taking hold in that particular province, we've seen positive job numbers, there's no question. But one of the reasons we've seen those job numbers increase is because the emergency supports have remained in place. Supports like the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, supports like more easily accessible employment insurance for workers who've been displaced. Some of the hundred billion dollars that you're referred to is the continuation of these highly successful emergency support programs for households and businesses. So we don't want to pull the rug out from under folks just as the recovery is starting to take hold, because that would do a disservice to the long term economic outcomes for our nation and frankly, for the people who live in our communities. So when I look at the kinds of investments that make up that 100-billion dollars, this is not for short term gain. This is to allow the economy to really gain traction and to make sure that we have the bones in place for a successful recovery that both promotes the green economy and ensures that those workers who did not necessarily have the opportunity to accrue savings during the pandemic are given a fair shot at success when COVID-19 is finally a thing of the past.

CO: But isn't that 100-billion dollars that people have in savings, isn't that a kind of preloaded stimulus that will undoubtedly enter the economy and enter the world of commerce? Isn't that going to do exactly what you're going to do with taxpayer's money?

SF: Well, look, there's not going to be any doubt that if there's increased household savings that have been built up through this pandemic, when the economy opens up it'll probably have a stimulating effect to the economy. But there's no guarantee that the money that folks, frankly, who tend to be from higher income households, that they've been able to be better off as a result of this pandemic, there's no guarantee that the spending that they undertake is actually going to benefit the millions of people who did not have the opportunity to build up those savings during the pandemic. When I look at the people who've not necessarily had a positive experience during this pandemic, not just from a public health point of view, but from an economic point of view, although the macroeconomic indicators might indicate things are chugging along, women have been disproportionately affected in a negative way, Black Canadians, Indigenous Canadians, newcomers, low-income workers in particular not only face greater risk from a public health point of view but have really faced a troubling economic circumstances as a result of this pandemic. So the measures we put in place are designed specifically to help many of those groups who are not sitting on more savings than they're accustomed to but are scraping to get by during a time of unprecedented difficulty.

CO: And just finally, I want to go back to the beginning about who's going to pay for this, because we're talking about the huge deficits we see over five years. We're still going to be in deficit budgets of 30-billion dollars with an expectation of a 1.4-trillion dollar debt. It's a staggering amount of money. And if their interest rates go up, which we can't be sure they're not going to, they probably will -- aren't we setting ourselves up for a disaster maybe on the scope of what we saw in the 1990s?

SF: The very question that you posed was before me at the Finance Committee with the former governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz. And what he flagged for us was the fact that the much greater risk to the Canadian economy was the risk of deflation. The downward pressure on the economy that could cost jobs, could cause businesses to close, would lead to economic scarring that would prevent growth for a generation. What the recommendation that came from that I took from that testimony was that the cost of taking action was far smaller than the cost of inaction. The reality is, as we move forward, we're going to ensure that the investments that we make now set the stage for growth. One of the key fiscal anchors in this budget is a declining debt to GDP ratio. If we are able to grow the economy, by the way, at a time when our interest rates are at historic lows and we have the opportunity to lock them in for a fairly lengthy period of time, we're able to make investments now that will pay dividends for a generation. And if we make the smart investments now, we're going to be able to more than offset the cost of incurring this debt as we go forward.

CO: Mr. Fraser we'll leave it there. I'm sure we have much to talk about in the days and weeks to come on this budget. But I appreciate speaking with you today. Thank you.

SF: Well thank you. And I'm happy to come back anytime.

CH: Sean Fraser is the parliamentary secretary to the finance minister. We reached him in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

[Music: Guitar Music]

101 Cones

CH: Prince Edward Island has a problem with a cone artist, and no one knows who he is. Over the last little while, an anonymous donor has dropped into at least three dairy bars. At each spot, he pays for exactly 101 soft serve cones to be given away to children. One of the restaurants he visited was the Richmond Dairy Bar. Cierra Bridges works there, and she told CBC P.E.I. about the reaction from customers and what she knows about the mystery ice cream man.

CIERRA BRIDGES: [SOUNDCLIP: There was one man that came up and he ordered food, and so I gave him the food. And then his kid was like hanging off his arm -- he is "Dad I want ice cream! Ice cream!" Dad's like, "No, we have food." And then I said, "I can give you an ice cream for free." And then the dad was like, what? And I said, yeah. "Does he want ice cream? He can just have one." He's like, "Why? I'll pay for it." And I was like, "No, somebody already paid for you." And so the kid was like, right, happy. And he was like jumping up and down. And then the dad was like smiling. He was like really kind about it.

TONY DAVIS: And so the person who did it, I guess you don't recognise him?

CIERRA BRIDGES: I recognised the eyes, but I don't know who it is.

TONY DAVIS: Okay. So he was masked up?

CIERRA BRIDGES: Yeah, he had a mask on, probably as high as a mask could go by his eyes, and had a hat on too.

TONY DAVIS: What about sunglasses? Was he well disguised?

CIERRA BRIDGES: No, he didn't have sunglasses on. Just your regular everyday outfit, like a t-shirt, like a button up shirt, jeans, belt, sneakers and a hat.

TONY DAVIS: How does it feel as a worker when that happens? I guess, you know, does it lift your spirits, anything like that?

CIERRA BRIDGES: It's kind of scary at first because we thought he wanted us to make 101 cones right now. [Chuckles] But after that, once he explained the story, it was really nice to give them to people and see other people smile because of somebody else's actions. I couldn't imagine going out today and buying 101 cones for strangers, but it's very nice of him to do that.]

CH: That was Cierra Bridges speaking with CBC reporter Tony Davis about a mystery man who's been paying for 101 soft serve ice cream cones at different spots around the island. He is wearing jeans and a belt.

[Music: Synth Music]

Part 2: Texas softball player who pitched perfect game says response has been 'mind-blowing'

Somalia President Extension

Guest: Abdirisak Mohamed

CH: In February, Somalia was supposed to have elections, but President Mohamed Farmaajo postponed them indefinitely, arguing that his administration had to reform the country's electoral system first. Then last week, President Farmaajo signed into law a motion to extend his time in office by two years. Again, he's claiming he just needs extra time to fix the electoral system. But critics see nothing more than a desperate power grab that will plunge Somalia into more violence. And the move has been followed by protests, threats of sanctions, and accusations that the country is once again becoming a dictatorship. Abdirisak Mohamed is a member of parliament in Somalia. We reached him in the capital, Mogadishu.

CO: Mr. Mohamed, what do you think President Farmaajo is up to?

ABDIRISAK MOHAMED: Well, President Farmaajo's time in office expired on February 8th, and the parliament's term in office also expired in December 27, 2020. What he is up to is to get an extension, to extend his term without due process.

CO: What do you think his intentions are?

AM: Well, his intention is to stay in power without going to the election. And as you already know, that the parliament has a rubber stamp, a two year extension to stay in power. And that, from a constitutional point of view, has no legal basis.

CO: But he is claiming that it does have a legal basis, right, that Somalia's lower house, now that it has rubber stamped this, is that he has two more years in office. And so what can you do about that?

AM: Well, it's not legitimate. When you look at the Constitution it's very clear -- provisions in our Constitution make it very clear. Article 60 of the Constitution limits parliament term to four years. Article 91 of the Constitution limits the president's term to four years. So that there's no legal basis to extend. And the parliament in Somalia what we have is that the parliament has two chambers -- the upper house and the lower house. He bypassed the upper house and went to the lower house to give that mandate extension. So it doesn't have any legality whatsoever.

CO: But is there any way that you can prevent that from happening? I mean, the fact that he has one house of the Somali parliament having done that, what recourse do you have at this point, you and the other parliamentarians, who oppose this?

AM: The opposition political actors, as well as two federal member states have objected to that extension and they call it illegal. The international community as well has called the extension illegal. And they have even made statements in which they said they will take measures, including targeted sanctions against individuals. So we will wait. What do we want, the only course of action is for the president to return to the negotiation table, to participate in the discussion, to talk about the election process. That is the only course that's open for him. The other option is to resign because nobody will accept the term extension that is a illegitimate

CO: President Farmaajo argues that he wants these two years in order to introduce reforms for elections -- that the last election in Somalia has been criticised as having been rotted with corruption. Is that legitimate? I mean, the need for some kind of reform, is that not a legitimate concern?

AM: Well, the president's claim is not legitimate because he had four years to prepare the country to go direct elections, one person, one vote. But he failed to do that. So we don't think that two years he can do that again. Even if he wants us to do that extension, there are mechanisms that he has to follow through, like political agreement. It has to come through a political agreement with the other stakeholders. And he's not willing to sit down and reach consensus with the other principles.

CO: Why do you think that he failed to do that over these four years? And I guess what you have is a system where you have clan based systems from the different regions that is considered to have resulted in a fair bit of corruption, a lot of bribes in the last election. Why do you think he failed to change your system?

AM: Well, I think the indirect election that we had in the last election was a recipe for corruption. I totally agree with you. And we should have had direct election, universal suffrage. And he was supposed to take the country, prepare the country to hold the election, direct elections for those four years. And he couldn't do that. The last time we had direct election was 30 years ago. And now when President Farmaajo's term was expiring, the international community and stakeholders came to the conclusion that the only viable option is to hold indirect elections as well.

CO: But isn't that a problem? I mean, if he goes into another election now, as he is supposed to instead of having this extension, are you're not just faced with the same problems and corruption as you had in the last election?

AM: Well, it's different this time. It's more enhanced than last time. In the last election, the election took place only the capital cities of the federal member states. So now they have added another city. So each regional state there will be two cities. The number of delegates will also increase. So the corruption will be less this time than it was last time.

CO: I guess another threat to the stability of Somalia always is the existence of this terrorist organisation, Al-Shabaab. Are they to take advantage of this moment in your political time -- is this is an advantage to Al-Shabab?

AM: Absolutely. There's always the security implications that come with it. Recently, the president has moved the national forces from the front bases. He deployed to the city of Mogadishu. In one central district where he moved the national forces, Al-Shabaab took over that city. So there's the likelihood that Al-Shabaab will take over many towns and many cities. If this stalemate continues, there has to be some change that comes. Otherwise, Al-Shabaab will take advantage. They will exploit the political agreement that exists in the country. And they have done this before. So they are going to do it again.

CO: Mr. Mohamed we'll leave it there for now. But we'll following what's happening in Somalia. Thank you for speaking with us.

AM: Thank you very much Carol.

CH: Abdirisak Mohamed is a member of parliament in Somalia. We reached him in Mogadishu.

[Music: Drum & Bass Music]

Ingenuity

CH: This morning at precisely 3:34 a.m. Eastern Time, a helicopter named Ingenuity made history. The small helicopter completed the first ever powered controlled flight on another planet. It's part of the same mission as Perseverance and will help the rover explore Mars. This morning, it flew through the Martian atmosphere with absolutely no help from Earth. And it sent back proof of its success. A photo of its shadow as it flew over the red planet. Last month. Carol spoke with Josh Ravich. After this morning's flight, he must have let out a big sigh of relief. Here's the mechanical engineering lead for Ingenuity at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built the helicopter. Here's part of that conversation.

JOSH RAVICH: [SOUNDCLIP: All of the above. It's kind of exciting. I personally try to reserve my excitement, you know, for the first flight. I don't want to get too excited until then. But yeah, that said, it's every emotion you can imagine, right? I mean, it's kind of like going into the big game. Here we are after so many years, you know, we're days or a few weeks away from flight. So, yeah, the whole team, I think it's kind of got that buzz.

CO: But this little helicopter, it's going to be independent of Perseverance, right? This little thing. How does it get enough power to fly?

JR: Yes. So it's mostly independent. It does fly by itself. It does communicate through Perseverance. Perseverance is the link between Earth and Ingenuity through some onboard electronics and an onboard antenna. However, once it's free, yes, it is on its own to survive the environment. It has solar panel actually mounted on the top of Ingenuity. If you look, there's a rectangle on the top, that is a solar panel that charges batteries that are held inside, the electronics box is on the bottom of the vehicle. So, yeah, every day bits get the sun, charges up the batteries and is able to not only complete the flight missions, but also survive the very cold Martian night, a lot of the energy or the batteries actually use to keep it warm once it's away from the rover, from Perseverance, you know, it's going to kind of do that itself, whereas up until now, Perseverance has been kind of a safe, warm cocoon for Ingenuity.

CO: There's something really interesting, though, that I want you to tell us about that actually connects Ingenuity, which is the first independent flight on another planet. But it's connected to the first independent flight on Earth, right, with the Wright brothers? Can you tell us what's on board?

JR: Yes, I'm very excited to talk about that. For a long time, our chief engineer and our project manager have been kind of describing this as the potential Wright brothers moment, you know, representing first light on another planet. In honour of that, we were lucky enough to be able to include a small piece of fabric from the original Wright Flyer One that I think it was called -- the original first flight Wright Flyer. We were able to include that on the vehicle as a little token. So hopefully our first flight will be successful. And we were so happy we were able to honour that accomplishment in our vehicle.]

CH: Josh Ravich speaking with Carol in March. The NASA helicopter he was talking about just completed the first flight on another planet.

[Music: Flute Music]

Softball Perfect Game

Guest: Hope Trautwein

CH: The University of North Texas's softball team is on a 10 game winning streak right now. They just won their latest series on the road in El Paso. And that is impressive. But people are still talking about a game they played earlier this month and they're mostly talking about pitcher Hope Trautwein. The Mean Green were playing the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Ms. Trautwein faced 21 batters during the regulation seven inning game, and she struck them all out. So not only did she throw a perfect game, she did it by striking out every single batter she faced. The National Collegiate Athletic Association says she's made history, calling her the first player in D1 NCAA softball history to throw a seven inning perfect game with 21 strikeouts. We reached Hope Trautwein in Denton, Texas.

CO: Hope, what has this past week been like for you?

HOPE TRAUTWEIN: It's been insane. There has been news outlets trying to cover this story everywhere. I'm talking to someone from Canada [chuckles] so that's amazing. And it's just been an incredible outpouring of love, not only for what I did, but for the game of softball. It's been amazing.

CO: You've had famous softball players who are tweeting about you, right?

HT: Yes. They're saying "This is awesome. Like this has never been done before." And it's amazing like Lauren Chamberlain and Jen Schroeder and actually Cat Osterman, who's I think is the best pitcher in the world, she came on MLB Network and talked about it for a little bit. So that was kind of like mind blowing.

CO: What are they saying about you?

HT: They're saying, well, they not only know how difficult it is to throw a straight up perfect game, but they're saying how amazing it must have been. [Chuckles] And they're kind of poking fun at my teammates a little bit. There's a video I last saw my teammates are kind of going around business as usual, but that's kind of how I like to run things. [Chuckles]

CO: They're going around business as usual because they didn't want to jinx you, right?

HT: Right right. And there's kind of a superstition around perfect games and how to treat a pitcher in the dugout. And, you know, you don't say it because you don't want to jinx it. You don't say, oh, my gosh, like Hope is throwing a perfect game right now. Because then odds are the very next inning it's not going to happen anymore.

CO: So they were just going get la de da de da as though nothing was going on while you were making history.

HT: Exactly. [Chuckles]

CO: Can you just describe what is a perfect game?

HT: A perfect game is a game where no batter reaches first base. So nobody gets a hit, nobody gets a walk, nobody gets a hit by pitch.

CO: And so you just struck them all out?

HT: Yes. [Chuckles]

CO: Did they even make contact with the ball?

HT: Yes, a few times. I think a handful of times they had foul balls. There were a couple of bunt attempts, a couple swings.

CO: But basically it just went on and on inning after inning that you struck them all out?

HT: Right.

CO: That must be very demoralising for the other team.

HT: [Chuckles] Well, we had another game right after that, so they had another chance, a couple of our other pitchers, but they didn't do...they didn't succeed the other pitchers either.

CO: Did you have any of those innings that were, as they say, immaculate?

HT: I believe so. I think I have three nine-pitch innings.

CO: [Chuckles] I've seen the video of you pitching. You have quite an arm.

HT: Thank you.

CO: What's your secret, do you think?

HT: I think throw hard. And if I miss, then I miss it 110 percent.

CO: You throw hard but accurately, obviously.

HT: Umm hmm. Well, I'm a ball pitcher, which means most or a lot of my strikes come off a swing and a miss. And I mean most of the time if they swing and miss, the ball is out of the zone. So I've had people call me "wild horse" before because people just swing. So I don't exactly have to throw in the zone to be successful.

CO: What does that mean -- wildhorse?

HT: I kind of just go out there and do my thing and it's my dominance that gets me through the inning. I could throw anywhere I want. I could throw it wild and people will still swing at it.

CO: Do you think at some point people just get spooked when you're pitching?

HT: I hope so. [Chuckles]

CO: Okay. So now where does this place you? Where does this put your team and you as far as records?

HT: So we are 24-9 as a team. We're first place in the West division of our conference and we won 10 straight games.

CO: Is this the first time you have actually thrown a perfect game?

HT: Yes, this is my first perfect game, but it is my third no hitter.

CO: Okay. And do you plan to keep having perfect games?

HT: I hope so.

CO: Where do you think your career is going to go?

HT: Well, for a player like me, I'm not from a power five conference so it's a little bit more difficult for me to have a professional career afterwards -- after I graduate from college. But I do have one more season of eligibility left, so I'm just hoping to finish up here, graduate. I'll graduate in May 2022 with my MBA master's degree and hopefully start a job.

CO: And what will happen to your amazing arm and your softball record?

HT: It'll probably just be a record in a book somewhere. [Chuckles] Maybe I can be a coach. I coach a little bit now. I give a lot of lessons, so I hope to stay in the game that way.

CO: Well Hope I think you got a lot to teach and congratulations to you.

HT: Thank you.

CO: Take care.

HT: Thank you. You too.

CH: That was University of North Texas softball pitcher Hope Trautwein in Denton, Texas. And if you'd like to see pictures and video from that perfect game, visit our website: cbc.ca/aih.

Teddy Bear

[Music: Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear]

CH: If you're in southern California right now and a giant teddy bear is coming towards you, don't worry, he's just trying to make you smile. But if you want to keep smiling, probably don't get too close. That ambling bear is called Bearsun. Within bear sun is Jesse Larios. He is a man. But he is also a bear. But he is also another animal. In an interview with CNN, Mr. Larios said, "I'm like a puppy, I guess. I just see something and I chase after it." At the moment that puppy bearman is in the midst of chasing a dream by walking 640 kilometres from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a bear costume he designed. It's adorable or it was when he first made it in 2016. But since then he has run two marathons in it and walked hundreds of kilometres. So now it's filthy. Plus, it might smell worse than several real bears, which is why Jesse Larios is raising money with his walk mostly for a new bear costume. In terms of fundraising, that's kind of the bare minimum, especially in contrast to the harrowing ordeal of Lloyd Scott. In 2011, he crawled the London Marathon dressed as a character called Brian the Snail to raise money for a children's charity. It took him 26 days. He spoke to Carol in May 2011 after reaching the finish line.

CO: [SOUNDCLIP: Well, can you describe the snail costume that you were in?

LLOYD SCOTT: Yeah. It was based on the character called Brian the Snail from a children's program called The Magic Roundabout. And I just wanted something -- he's quite cheeky, chappy. He's got a quite impish grin on his face. So I wanted to put a smile on people's faces whilst I did this. He's about nine feet long, I suppose. The top of his head is about six feet high. And within that, there's a sled that I lay on with runners. And I just kind of drape myself along using arms and I'm pushing a bit with my legs.

CO: So your face down in this?

LLOYD SCOTT: I'm face down about six inches from the ground. So I'm quite an expert now on the condition of London sidewalks.

CO: [Chuckles] But you spent eight hours a day in there for over three weeks.

LLOYD SCOTT: Yeah.

CO: And you got sick, I guess, a bit.

LLOYD SCOTT: Yes. I mean, one of the things I really didn't contemplate beforehand, although I trained and did some training, I didn't train for the length of time that I ended up being on the sled. And what happened was that the food I was eating because I was laying down on a fairly hard bolt it compressed everything. And so, I couldn't actually digest the food I'd eaten. And a couple of times, unfortunately, I brought it back up.

CO: And had nosebleeds as well.

LLOYD SCOTT: Yeah. Again, I think that the kind of prone position that I was in and the pressure that I was put in my system, I was having, you know, continuous nosebleeds, I think four or five days. But obviously with what was at stake and the amount of attention that was on me, there was no way that I could even contemplate you stopping, even though, unfortunately, the nosebleeds did continue even after that.]

CH: Lloyd Scott speaking with Carol in 2011 after taking 26 days to finish the London Marathon in a snail costume.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Part 3: Turks and Caicos Adventurer

Turks and Caicos Adventurer

Guest: Mario Rigby

CH: It's not his official job title, but Toronto's Mario Rigby is an adventurer. He spent two years crossing Africa by foot. And last summer, you may have heard him here on As It Happens after he paddled the length of Lake Ontario in 20 days. This week, he sets off to traverse the main eight islands of Turks and Caicos where he grew up. He'll be travelling solo and using only the power of his own body to do it. We reached Mario Rigby on the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos.

CO: Mario, how does it feel today, knowing you're about to embark on this challenge?

MARIO RIGBY: You know what? It actually feels a bit nerve wracking. I mean, this has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. So to be able to fulfill that and to make that happen is definitely a dream come true.

CO: Tell us a bit about that dream.

MR: You know, when I lived in Turks Caicos as a kid, me and I brother we would go around the islands and, you know, we were going to like tiny little fishing boats as was like, you know, native islanders. And we were just kind of sleep over in caves, we would learn about the bush, and we knew what fruits and vegetables to eat. We know how to fish for ourselves. So we essentially, you know, learned how to survive without even calling it survival. We just thought that that's just how life is. And then I just go into a life of adventure. And taking it on a global stage is such a rewarding feeling.

CO: And you've taken this to the continent of Africa. You've taken it to Lake Ontario last time we spoke. But now this is different for you, isn't it? It's home. Can you describe for us what you're planning to do?

MR: Absolutely. So the expedition is to traverse the entire length of the Turks and Caicos Islands from Salt Cay to West Caicos, and that's over 250 kilometres and that's covering over eight of the main island. And I'll be traversing that using swimming, hiking, paddling, running and cycling as well. Yeah.

CO: What do you think might be the most difficult part of this plan?

MR: To be honest it'll be first day, which is to paddle from Salt Cay to Grand Turk. No one's ever actually done that before. And then from Grand Turk -- also something hasn't been done in modern times, at least I believe the Lucayan Indigenous people, they've done that, but that was like we're talking thousands of years ago. So essentially retracing what the Indigenous people have done here.

CO: That particular passage, I think it's the Columbus Passage, in a kayak -- how difficult is that going to be?

MR: So that's going to be probably the most difficult part and the reason it hasn't really been done before is because it takes a lot of logistics to be able to do that. And you have to be in the right time, the right conditions. If the weather is off, that could really affect the entire plan. And we're talking the water is so deep -- it is about three kilometres deep water. So we're talking about you're in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean here. And there are also really strong currents that kind of push through this particular path between the Grand Turk and Salt Bay, which is the rest of the island. So kind of like split the Turks and Caicos Islands up. And if you get stuck in that current and you're swept out into the ocean, then that could be potentially a very dangerous thing.

CO: It's 40 kilometres wide, right?

MR: Exactly. Yeah.

CO: And I understand weather can come up pretty quickly in that passage.

MR: The weather can change in a matter of 10 minutes. A wave forms a metre to about, you know, 30 metres in less than an hour or so. If you're stuck out there, you could be in serious trouble.

CO: But once you've completed that part, lots of walking, hiking, swimming.

MR: That's correct. So right after that, when I land in South Caicos, which is one of the smaller islands in Turks and Caicos, then reversing this particular part over to East Caicos, which is kind of a no man's land, no one actually lives there -- we're talking about over 30 kilometres of hiking there. And it's really unknown what I'm going to run into. I know what the terrain of Turks and Caicos on average is. So we're basing it on that. But I know that in the next couple days we will probably head out there just to take a look, to make sure that we have the right equipment to traverse that particular part. And then, of course, there's the swimming across the keys, there are over 40 keys in the Turks and Caicos Islands, so hopping from one over to the next requires a lot of strategy and planning as well. And you can get really tired swimming against the currents and then running, hiking, and getting across those different islands.

CO: How long is this going to take you?

MR: Altogether, it should take about seven days, I say between six and seven days.

CO: Do you have a time limit? Are you trying to beat a record or anything or what?

MR: Well, it's funny that you said because the record would be to just do it in the first place. What I really want to do is I want to establish what it takes to be able to cross the Turks and Caicos Islands and then perhaps then the following year I'll try to beat that time. But I think in order to do it, you have to, first of all, see if it's possible and kind of give yourself an estimate of how long that would take. And so this is really a stepping stone for us to see what it would take to cross Turks and Caicos.

CO: Part of your ambition in this trip is to raise money and awareness for young people, for kids in Turks and Caicos. And so what do you hope the young people -- what do you hope kids take away from what you're doing this week?

MR: Well, first of all, I like to inspire young children in the Caribbean so that they can see a reflection of themselves through me knowing that they're capable of these massive expeditions and just really learning how to navigate around the islands. I think that's an important skill for islanders to to learn, but also to learn and understand in this case of swimming and what it takes to nurse the coral reef system and the marine life. And so we're raising money to essentially teach and empower young children to be able to do that for themselves. And I think that's the most sustainable approach.

CO: Well, Mario, I wish you luck, success, and joy on this trip. It sounds quite extraordinary. And it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

MR: Thank you so much Carol. I appreciate it.

CH: Mario Rigby is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. We reached him on the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Anna Hogg

CH: Imagine if a landmass the size of Prince Edward Island was swallowed up by the ocean. A68 wasn't exactly a land mass, but the iceberg was massive. In July 2017, it broke away from Antarctica. Picture a 6000 square kilometre slab of ice floating in the ocean. Now satellites show the iceberg is essentially gone, having broken up into smaller pieces and melted away. Warm water, higher air temperatures, and rough waves are what eventually killed it. But experts say it's amazing the iceberg lasted in one piece as long as it did. Back in July 2017 when the iceberg first split from Antarctica, As It Happens spoke with Anna Hogg, an expert in satellite observations of glaciers from the University of Leeds.

ANNA HOGG: [SOUNDCLIP: My first smoking gun of when I knew it happened for sure was when we got the first sentinel one image three today and we could see in high resolution the gap between the ice shelf and the iceberg. And you can see the ocean water in between the two. So it's definitely calved.

LL: You call it calving which is an interesting expression. What was your reaction when you saw that the let's say calf had been born so to speak?

ANNA HOGG: It's exciting because it's been happening for so long and it's been great to be able to monitor it, so frequently with the satellites that we've got flying in space. You know we would not have been able to observe an event like this occurring even five years ago, it wouldn't have been possible so we're in a very luxurious position now. But not only that, it means we can study in more detail all the science behind it. We can start to disentangle what processes have been driving change in this region and what we think might happen as a result of the iceberg calving in the future.

LL: Compared to other icebergs, how big is this one?

ANNA HOGG: Icebergs calve of ice shelves, all of the time. In fact it's part of the natural cycle of any ice shelf. But it is very unusual to see one quite so large as this. We've seen one that was big on the Ross Ice Shelf A few years ago. And that was a huge iceberg in comparison, but certainly with respect to the size of the peninsula this is massive. It constitutes about 10 percent of the total size of the Larsen C ice shelf at the moment. So it's certainly significant.

LL: Of course the one question I think this raises for a lot of people is: Did climate change play a role in this?

ANNA HOGG: So I think at the moment we have to accept that icepacks calve all of the time. And so the most likely thing is that, although this is a giant ice bag, it might just be part of the natural life cycle of the Larsen C ice shelf. In order to understand whether it's something responsible to do with more long term climate change, we will need to study this in much more detail and firstly be able to see the response of the ice to the event now that it has occurred. So we will be pouring over data for the next months and years to come.

LL: Ms. Hogg you talked about this broken off perhaps getting stuck, but what is the worst case scenario for it?

ANNA HOGG: I think actually an iceberg when they're very large, we know in the future there will be ships coming in as the tourist season starts on the Antarctic Peninsula. A very large iceberg is really easy for ships to spot. And so in fact that's quite an attraction because you can go and take a look at it. It's when they break up into smaller pieces that icebergs can become a bit more of a hazard for ships that might be entering in this region. And that's because 90 percent of any iceberg is beneath the ocean surface. And so in order to get an idea of how big the iceberg really is you really are looking at the tip of the iceberg from what you can see from the ship. So that's really we'll have to look at how it breaks up and if it breaks up in the future.]

CH: Glacier satellite expert, Anna Hogg, speaking to As It Happens guest host, Laura Lynch, in July 2017.

[Music: Synth Music]

Olympic Basketball Court

Guest: Scott Lake

VOICE: [SOUNDCLIP: Leonard makes it official. Warriors just inbound, and that's it. There's a new NBA champion and it's a team from Toronto, Canada! We The North are now We The Champions. The Raptors, the 2019 NBA champs.]

CH: The sound of the Toronto Raptors defeating the Golden State Warriors on June 13th, 2019, to claim their first NBA title in franchise history. For a lot of Canadians, it's a where were you when moment. The Raptors left it all on the court in order to bring the championship back to Toronto. But of course, they literally left the court they played on at the Warriors Oracle Arena in California. Well, after months of negotiating, the Raptors game winning court is now in Victoria, British Columbia, just in time to host the Olympic qualifying games for basketball. Scott Lake is a board member of Canada Basketball and the point person who somehow managed to bring the hardwood home. We reached Mr. Lake in Victoria.

CO: Scott, we just heard that very famous moment for the Toronto Raptors back in 2019. Where were you at that moment?

SCOTT LAKE: I was at home in my office watching the game alone because I was so nervous I couldn't watch with anybody else.

CO: And what did you do when they won?

SL: I leapt to the ceiling for probably about 10 minutes.

CO: [Laughter] So when did you get this idea that you wanted that court, that winning court, to be in Canada?

SL: Well, it all sort of started with the opportunity that was kind of brought to me by Clint Hamilton, the director of athletics at University of Victoria, and Glen Grunwald, the CEO of Canada Basketball, where they said, you know, we have an opportunity to get the Olympic qualifying tournament in Canada if we can put together a bid. You know, we haven't won a medal in basketball since 1936 and we really haven't qualified for the Olympics since 2000. And, you know, we do have the second most NBA players aside from the US who play. So we are actually unknowingly a massive basketball talent. And so when we were able to sort of scrape together this bit and get this tournament out in Victoria on June 29 to July 4th, we were sort of thinking, okay we've announced the tournament, all of the NBA players have committed to coming, so we know the team is going to be the best basketball team in Canadian history. You know, what unfair advantage can we create beyond what we're already doing to try and propel this team to the Olympics? And that's when the conversation around the floor started happening. You know, we sort of all came to the idea as there's only one floor that we can use for this tournament and that has to be the Raptors championship floor from game six in the 2019 NBA playoffs.

CO: But this is the floor in the Oracle Arena, right? This is in California, in Oakland. How do you go about buying the floor? How do you go about buying the court in not just an arena but in someone else's country's arena?

SL: Seriously, I mean, this was an ordeal. Nick Blasco, who's one of our partners here with the Olympic qualifying tournaments, is the person who did a lot of the negotiations. And really the trick was not even how we buy it -- how do we even find the person to ask to buy it? The whole ordeal took a year. It took us about two months to even find someone because the floor is not owned by the Golden State Warriors. It's actually owned by the Oracle Arena. And so none of our basketball contacts could put us in touch with someone who can make that decision. But finally, a concert promoter who had put shows in the Oracle Arena was able to put us in contact with someone who could even acknowledge the floor existed. [Laughter] And so yeah. And it's funny because he really we sent him down there to put his eyes on the floor to be sure that it really did exist.

CO: Okay. So you brought this back to Victoria. I mean, how did you keep it a secret? Because for a long time, nobody knew you were shipping an entire floor.

SL: We were able to send a truck down there and get it and bring it up to Victoria. And, you know, like, where do you hide a 50,000-pound floor? And luckily for us, Clint Hamilton, the athletic director at University of Victoria, had access to a decommissioned tennis centre on the UVic campus. And so we had to sneak it in there. You know, a truck pulls in, the door opens, we're watching, you know, as if we're robbing the place. [Chuckles] We sneak this floor and then we spend the next two hours assembling it. And it was hidden there for probably about six months and..

CO: Okay just before you get to that. So when you got the floor laid out, did you feel the magic?

SL: Oh yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. That was a high and a low because the high was you know, we actually have this floor and the last time it had been laid out was the game -- game six. And so, you know, there's sweat all over the floor, there's footprints like it's not been cleaned. We're sitting on a piece of Canadian history, you know, like none other if you're a basketball fan. And so that was the high. The low was that the centre court emblem was the Golden State Warriors logo, which is a different centre court emblem then that was played in game six. And so we knew we had the game six floor, but not all of the game six floor. And so we had to go back and hunt for the town logo, which was the actual centre court used during game six.

CO: Wow. Okay. So you got it all together. And now do you think this will actually give the advantage? I mean, do you see having got this floor that we might see kind of go to the Olympics?

SL: Everyone is superstitious to some way. And so we might be more so than the average person. But if you think back to the Olympics, where the original idea came from in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics with the loonie at centre ice. You know, we wanted the entire floor to be that loony. And so even just telling people that we've gone through this amazing feat to get this floor that's so important to Canada so that Team Canada can play on, it has to mean something.

CO: Okay. There is a really big stretch between a loonie and a 50,000-pound floor. [Laughs]

SL: [Laughs] Well, it was one of those things where, you know, for us that Raptors championship, it was an inflexion point for the whole country when it comes to basketball. That game six game was watched by 17-million people, half of the population of Canada was watching that game. That was an inspiration for us for sure. Like that floor and that series really changed or just exposed a shift that's happening in Canada, which is, you know, the identity of Canada is evolving towards basketball. It doesn't mean it's going away from hockey. It just means that hockey fans are now basketball fans. And to me, it's a force of good in Canada. Like, the great thing about basketball is it's inclusive, it's easy to play, you can set it up anywhere. You know, we've seen last year that it's antiracist, it's multicultural, promotes national unity. All the things that are great about this country sort of come through the sport of basketball. And so for us, we wanted to build on that inflection point. And to me, the floor represents like the first part of it is the Raptors championship, the second part of it is going to be having Team Canada make the Olympics, and then the third part of it is having them win a gold medal.

CO: So basketball comes full circle in your view, it was invented by a Canadian, I think the first NBA game was played in Canada. It has won an NBA championship. And now it's just so fitting that Canada should win Olympic gold. It all seems to be coming together like the floor. Scott it's great to talk to you. Thanks.

SL: Thank you very much.

CH: Scott Lake is a board member of Canada Basketball. And we reached him in Victoria, British Columbia.

[Music: Hip-hop Music]

Las Vegas Grass Ban

Guest: Colby Pellegrino

CH: Las Vegas is bringing its turf war straight to the enemy: grass. Water officials in the area are trying to ban non-functional turf, which is to say grass that no one walks on. The desert state is dealing with more and more droughts. And the Southern Nevada Water Authority says that non-functional turf is using up precious water. Now, the authority has taken its proposal to the Nevada legislature, and if passed, it would be the first of its kind in the United States. Colby Pellegrino is the water resources director for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, and we reached her in Las Vegas.

CO: Colby, where exactly does one find non-functional turf?

COLBY PELLEGRINO: That's a great question. So non-functional turf, the easiest way to think of it is if the only person using it that grass is the landscaper that's maintaining it. So where we see non-functional turf in our community is in the landscaping of, say, a street median or along the side of a walking path where it looks beautiful, but nobody's really going there to have a picnic or play soccer.

CO: The only person who's going there is cutting that grass.

CP: Exactly.

CO: Okay. How much of that do you have in Las Vegas?

CP: We estimate that we have about total turf and I'm going to try and use metric for you, we have just about 4,800 hectares of turf in the Las Vegas Valley. The portion that we think is non-functional is just over about 2,000 hectares of grass. So pretty decent amount.

CO: And what do you plan to do with that non-functional turf?

CP: Well, for about two decades now, we incentivise the removal of that turf and replacing it with desert friendly landscaping. So putting in plants and trees that grow better and use less water and also in most cases are more beautiful than just the grass.

CO: Because we've been following stories in Las Vegas of this attempt to reduce the use of water for some time for obvious reasons. But why is there still so much non-functional turf? Why hasn't this already been turned over to those kinds of plants?

CP: You know, we've made huge conversions from where we were 20 years ago, in fact, we've incentivised the removal of 18.3-million square metres of grass. But what we've found is that the turf that's remaining, this non-functional turf, it's sometimes really hard to get it to the people that can make decisions about it. In some cases, there are people that just want to look at grass, and that's really not a wise decision for water resources in the desert.

CO: Maybe describe a bit of the resistance that you'll meet. Because I guess, even if it's non-functional, many people regard it as aesthetically appealing, right? Where is the pushback coming from to tear up this non-functional turf?

CP: I would say in general, our community has a great conservation ethic. I mean, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have with non-functional turf removal if the community didn't support the desert landscaping. We really have two issues, I would say, that remain. One of those is property ownership. So in a lot of times, particularly when you get into commercial property that's leased out to others, it is sometimes really hard to find the owner and the decision maker of that property. So we'll have a shopping centre that has turf lining the parking lot. And even if the businesses want that turf removed, the person that they pay their bill to, their landlord, that person even may not be the true owner that can actually go in and make that decision. So sometimes we have a really hard time actually getting to the owner and compelling them to make that decision. And a lot of times these owners are not people that live in Las Vegas. They're investors that are elsewhere. So this is sort of out of sight, out of mind for them. The other thing that we see is I don't think that there is necessarily a lot of opposition to taking out turf, but I think there's people who are agnostic, they like the way things look, they're scared of change. So they don't necessarily want to go advocate for the change that needs to be made. What we find in our survey work is that the community, by and large, supports the removal of this turf.

CO: What is your situation with water at this point in your state and in your city?

CP: So southern Nevada gets 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River. And as I'm sure you've heard, the Colorado River is in an extended drought, one of the worst in recorded history. We have been preparing for drought and climate change for the last two decades by storing water, doing all of this water conservation, and ensuring that our community has the water that it needs to meet demands into the future. This is just the next step in what we've been doing for the last 20 years and making sure that we get ahead of the dry conditions that may be coming on the Colorado River.

CO: If you're not able to get these things under control, to find these ways of reducing the consumption, what's your greatest fear as far as water availability in Las Vegas?

CP: I don't really have those fears. I'm responsible for creating a 50 year water resource plan for the community. We use a scenario based planning approach where we look at different hydrologies on the Colorado River, including climate change projections. We look at the water supply we have today and the conservation measures we have. And that's what helps me sleep well at night. Again, we're trying to get way ahead of this. The thing that worries me the most is everyone else on the river coming together and doing the same thing. Nevada only gets 1.8 percent of the water allocated on the Colorado River. So we cannot change the trajectory of the Colorado River by ourselves. We work really strongly with our partners on the river, the other states, in ensuring that we're examining what the future looks like together and we're being proactive in managing that resource as well. But that's the area that concerns me more than how we actually meet [inaudible] here locally.

CO: All right, Colby, we'll leave it there. Thanks for speaking with us.

CP: Thank you.

CH: Colby Pellegrino is the water resources director for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. We reached her in Las Vegas.

April 19, 2021 Episode Transcript

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