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The AIH Transcript for July 30, 2018

Hosts: Piya Chattopadhyay and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

PIYA CHATTOPADHYAY: Hello, I'm Piya Chattopadhyay, sitting in for Carol Off.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening. I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight…

PC: The heat of battle. Relentless high temperatures have meant an explosion of wildfires across the state of California — one of which consumed our guest’s home — leaving little more than the foundation.

JD: She believed peace would return, but didn't live to see it. After the death of Syrian actress Mai Skaf, who spoke out against Assad and fled the country, a colleague remembers a woman who risked everything for her homeland.

PC: First post, the past. With today's elections Zimbabwe leaves behind the Robert Mugabe era, but a human rights lawyer in Harare warns that even without the strongman there there's still a lot to worry about.

JD: Trunk with power. Toronto City Council has approved a plan to buy a North York house in order to save what could very well be the city's oldest tree, which is a great relief to the woman who considers herself that tree’s Lorax.

PC: One-stop hopping. When a kangaroo burst into a home in Melbourne, Australia the residents called our guest — a wildlife rescuer who had to serve as a bouncer for the bouncer.

JD: And…Gotta admit it's getting bitter. John Lennon wrote the words, Paul McCartney insists he wrote the music for In My Life — so how will he respond to an exhaustive study in today's papers proving Paul is dead wrong. As It Happens: The Monday Edition. Radio that worry's, if he read the news today, oh boy.

[Music: Theme]

Back To Top »

Part 1: California Fires, Zimbabwe Election, Kangaroo Intruder

California Fires

Guest: Destiny Higgins

JD: For people all over the state of California the last few days have been full of loss and grief. There are wildfires burning all over the state. The largest one is in the north where at least half a dozen people have been killed — including three members of the same family. Hundreds of structures have burned to the ground, one of them was the home of Destiny Higgins and her family. They fled their property in Shasta County last week. Yesterday, she found out it was gone. We reached Ms. Higgins in a part of Redding, California where she's safe with her family.

PC: Ms. Higgins, how are you and your family holding up?

DESTINY HIGGINS: All things considered, I think we're doing pretty well. We're hanging in there.

PC: How did you find out that your home had been destroyed yesterday?

DH: There was a photographer that was doing a Facebook Live Feed going down our road, going addressed her address to tell people if their houses had burned or not because we had no other way to know. When one of my friends saw that they were on Rock Creek Road they tagged me in the video. And so all of my friends and family got on the video and we were all watching waiting for them hit our address.

PC: And what happened when the Facebook Live video showed your address on the screen?

DH: I'm not an overly emotional human being, but when I saw it I dropped my phone and I cried harder than I've ever cried because it was completely obliterated — just gone, flattened. My kids and their dad, my brother and my friends were all with us when it happened and we all just lost our moods, just a lot of crying and screaming and people throwing their phones.

PC: And so when you're looking at it, what about the rest of the houses in the neighbourhood? Were they all flattened as well?

DH: No. This fire was really weird in the way it hopped around. We have a three acre lot, our neighbour has a half-acre but we share a driveway to get to our homes. Our neighbour with the half-acre, his house is completely untouched. His property is completely fine. We saw his first in the live stream, we saw and it was untouched and so we were so excited. And then we're a little bit up a hill and once he got up and over the hill we saw all the trees were burnt and we knew we lost the house. But his property was untouched and the one next to ours was untouched and the one behind ours was untouched. But across the way there were some that were burnt down. It just really was like a roll of the dice and we just lost.

PC: Is there anything left of your home?

DH: The chimney and the foundation. And then we scanned the property from the video, we haven't been able to get back on the property yet, but we scanned the property and there's a — my step dad made us a tin man windchime, handcrafted it, that's left and that's about it.

PC: That's all that's left, a little tin man?

DH: A little tin man yeah.

PC: This fire it's known as the Carr Fire, how quickly did you have to evacuate from your place last week?

DH: We weren't even under precautionary evacuation yet but the air was bad and the fire started in a place called French Gulch, we live in Shasta, which is just down the road down the highway from French Gulch. We looked outside and over the ridge we could see the flames. And so I said ‘We're getting out of here.’ So we just packed up very quickly. I mean, I made the decision and five minutes later we were on the highway. We grabbed our pets and our kids. So luckily we all got out okay.

PC: Were you able to grab anything else?

DH: We all packed an overnight bag of clothing and we were able — I grabbed — we have an heirloom, my ex-husband's grandmother's ring. I grabbed that because it was in my brain to do so, we grabbed our important paperwork and we left.

PC: This hasn't been the only tragedy you and your family have had to deal with recently, I understand.

DH: Yeah. We've had a rough go of it the last couple years.

PC: What happened?

DH: In October 2016 my ex-husband, my kid’s dad had two strokes that were debilitating. He made it through them, he is alive, he is disabled. And so that's why we had our weird family, everybody's doesn't understand our family setup.

PC: Because you were all living in the same home, your ex-husband and you and your children and you?

DH: Yes. Because he is disabled and does need a little bit of help around the house and we wanted to keep our kids fairly stable.

PC: And how are the kids? How old were they?

DH: They are twelve and ten. My 12-year-old, my daughter, her name is Shayla and she is handling it remarkably well. She's a really strong kid. Our 10-year old has autism, so I don't think she fully grasped the concept of what happened yet.

PC: And how are you?

DH: I'm holding it together. We always joke that I'm built for this kind of stuff, I handle stress very well so I think I'm okay.

PC: And so what's next? You're living elsewhere now temporarily. What's next for you and your family?

DH: We've got to figure out where to go and what to do from here. Unfortunately we're uninsured, so…

PC: Why were you uninsured?

DH: So where we live is extremely high fire risk and so most insurance agencies won't cover you. There's only one that I know of in Shasta that covers people. We had insurance through them and then they came and did an annual inspection and we had a little crack in our foundation. They gave us this list of things that we had to fix and that was the big one, that crack in the foundation, and we were on a very limited income, you know, my kids dad is disabled and I'm pretty much the sole breadwinner and we weren't able to afford to pay to have the foundation repaired and so they wouldn't insure us.

PC: So what do you do?

DH: I don't know yet. We haven't quite got that far because we're going to have to call someone out to remove the rubble that was our house because the foundation is still there. And so I don't know how I'm going to pay for that yet. We don't know.

PC: And as you say your home was in an area that is prone to fire risk and it's hard to get insurance up there. Do you ever think of leaving the area or the state?

DH: So ten years ago our property, the same property, was touched by a wildfire but luckily the house survived. This does happen pretty frequently here. But ten years ago we thought about leaving but this is our home. All of our friends are here, our family’s here, our kids’ his whole support system is here and we love it here so we don't really want to go. So that's why we stayed.

PC: And do you think we're leaving now?

DH: I don't know. This is our whole support system. I don't know, we haven't discussed yet because it's not even meant 24 hours since we found out. I don't know.

PC: Well, thank you for making time to talk with us. And I wish you and your family the best ahead as you rebuild your home and your lives.

DH: Thank you so much.

PC: Take good care, ok.

DH: We will, thank you.

PC: Bye, bye.

DH: Bye.

JD: That was Destiny Higgins. She found out yesterday that her house in Shasta County, California had been destroyed. To see pictures of her family and what's left of her property, visit our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Upright Bass]

Zimbabwe Election

Guest: Beatrice Mtetwa

JD: It was the first election in Zimbabwe since the removal of Robert Mugabe. But while the strongman is gone and voting is now complete, it remains to be seen whether the democracy that Zimbabweans have been denied for so long can now finally begin to sink its roots. Beatrice Mtetwa is a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer. She has defended imprisoned journalists and opposition politicians — sometimes even herself. We reached Ms. Mtetwa in Harare.

PC: Ms. Mtetwa, what's the atmosphere in Zimbabwe tonight?

BEATRICE MTETWA: Well, the atmosphere is a bit carnival like because of the expectations. There hasn't been an election like this basically since 1980. The excitement is palpable, many first time voters. For the first time people were able to listen to the politicians without as many restrictions as we’ve seen in the past.

PC: What concerns do you have once the results start to come out?

BM:I think because of the high expectations that there will be change, obviously we fear that if that doesn't happen we could see a bit of violence — if not a lot of violence. They will be disputations that almost always accompany elections in Zimbabwe. And when people are disappointed, and in this particular cycle of elections, we have a lot of young first-time voters who may not have the patience of the older people.

PC: Election observers are saying it is just too early to judge whether today's vote was free and fair. From your perspective how did the voting seem to go?

BM: It's very difficult for me to say elections can be free and fair because the immediate period preceding the election has been calm, or the voting day has been calm. The majority of our voters are in the rural areas. Traditionally have borne the brunt of the violence during election time and nobody is really gone out to say to them it's a different election this time around. So psychologically there would be no reason for someone in the rural areas to actually you think that it's OK to vote for someone other than ZANU–PF, because there simply hasn't been enough advocacy around elections and the fact that people are now free to vote for whoever they want to vote for.

PC: ZANU-PF, of course, Robert Mugabe's long time party for decades and decades, his former security minister now runs ZANU-PF. And the reporting so far suggests a close race between ZANU–PF and Nelson Chamisa, of the opposition MDC Alliance. So help us understand more the difference between the two options that Zimbabweans have been presented with?

BM: The current president, or the outgoing president, has obviously the advantage of incumbency. If you are in power you are able to manipulate a lot of things. And in Zimbabwe the state media, or the public media, is actually regarded more as the ruling party media to an extent where even the opposition wants to pay for advertorial material it is not allowed to really freely have its messages go through the public media. He can travel where he wants as president because he's entitled to have a helicopter take him anywhere, he has access to state funding. He can use — not lawfully necessarily — state resources to push for his party’s agenda. So he is one up on the MDC Alliance president, who is a younger, completely inexperienced person, because he has only been a leader of this political party and this alliance for less than six months. He's got a lack resources on his side he's got the state against him generally, and he's being referred to as a child and this man in 40 years old. So they've had this advantage that he's really being looked at is some puny, little child and therefore not worthy of serious consideration. And, of course, just this the fear that he wouldn't be able to protect his supporters if anything happens to them. He’s got the advantage that people are looking at him as potentially not tainted, he's got no skeletons in his cupboard, he might be able to deliver on change.

PC: How much has really changed in the eight months since Robert Mugabe was forced to resign?

BM: Well, I would say that actually if Emmerson Mnangagwa had called an election in February or January he would have resoundingly won. He was saying all the right things, he was believed to really it coming in with change ideas and that he would do things differently from way the way Robert Mugabe did them. And then eight months down the line he has not delivered much. We know that his big corruption fight has brought virtually nothing on the table because he's got some of the people who are said to be the most corrupt in his cabinet. Right now, those people who went out in the streets to celebrate the fall of Robert Mugabe don't have the same sort of enthusiasm for the current president. They don't believe that he's any different. He's saying all the right things but it is all rhetoric because on the ground, he has simply not delivered.

PC: Well, Ms. Mtetwa, we'll have to leave it there but I hope that the aftermath of today's vote in your country is peaceful and that Zimbabwe has a bright future. Thank you very much.

BM: Most welcome.

JD: Beatrice Mtetwa is a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer. We reached her in Harare.

[Music: 90’s Hip Hop]

Kangaroo Intruder

Guest: Manfred Zabinskas

JD: Hearing a bang and a crash of broken glass in the middle of the night — most people would think the worst — home intruder. And that was what a man in suburban Melbourne assumed this weekend — he was right. After checking the safety of his partner and three-year-old son he went to investigate and ran in to an angry stranger who could not and would not be reasoned with — because the intruder was a kangaroo. After the rogue ‘roo had run amok in the house the man managed to lock it in the bathroom and that is when Manfred Zabinskas got the call. Mr. Zabinskas is a wildlife rescuer. He's in Victoria, Australia.

PC: Mr. Zabinskas, what was the scene when you first arrived at the home?

MANFRED ZABINSKAS: It was a bit of mayhem. People were out on the street, the doors of the home were open and so we quickly grabbed a blanket and some sedatives and entered the house. And I've got to say the scene was a bit like out of the movie Psycho. So as soon as we entered the home we could see blood up on the walls, there was blood all over the carpet and yeah the kangaroo was contained in the toilet and the door was shut so at least we knew that we had the animal contained.

PC: Was he or she quiet while in the washroom?

MZ: He must have been exhausted, he was actually lying down at the bottom of the toilet bowl on the ground and barely reacted to me so I was able to quickly put a blanket over the top of him, hold him down and sedated because he was still obviously conscious and last thing I wanted was for him to jump up and start running around again.

PC: How big was he?

MZ: He is a medium sized male, about 30 kilograms, so, I mean, they grow very much larger than that. Our fully-grown eastern grey kangaroos get up to about 90 kilograms.

PC: And as I understand it, the family — it's a couple and a young child — had been jolted awake by a big bang, which turned out to be this intruding marsupial. How are they? How were they when you first saw them?

MZ: In shock, I guess. It was quite strange because while they while they live in Australia they've actually never seen a kangaroo. The first time they'd ever come across a kangaroo was when they saw one standing at the bedroom door.

PC: Well, first of all, I'm shocked because I think we assume that every Australian has seen a kangaroo, but to see one in the middle of the night standing at your door must be quite frightening.

MZ: Well, yes, it's not unusual for me because I look after sick and injured kangaroos. While we're talking on the phone here I've got eight kangaroos around me in my lounge room. So to me it’s not all that unusual. But yes, it's always fun to see how people have their first interaction.

PC: Why do you think this kangaroo did this?

MZ: Oh, look it was in a panic, there's no doubt about that. In fact, after we were able to examine the kangaroo we could see that it must have been running around frantically for quite a long time. They normally have quite long claws, its claws were half worn and bleeding, that's a typical indication that the kangaroo has been running on hard surfaces like bitumen roads or concrete for an extended period of time. I expect that this kangaroo came from nearby fields. There's been a lot of development in that area, we've got huge new industrial zones have been built there. It was probably just a case of this kangaroo was trying to get back home, it got spooked ended up in a suburban area, was actually heading into the right direction to go back to where the nearest open fields are where kangaroos would be living, but it just reached the barrier of houses, fences and closed gates and in its panic it just took what looked like the passage back home — a large window.

PC: And as you say, there's been development in the area. How common is this kind of occurrence?

MZ: It's one of our worst issues that we have to deal with. We’ve got massive expansion of housing and shopping centres and industry on the outskirts of the city of Melbourne, and there are literally thousands of kangaroos that are being impacted, and unfortunately there aren't any real processes in our state to protect these animals. A developer could buy a very large parcel of land and plan to build thousands of homes, and if kangaroos are living on that property there is actually no requirement for him to humanely deal with those kangaroos. And the bulldozers just come in and stop clearing the land and the kangaroos are all displaced and ultimately they try to return back home and then we have the conflict of kangaroos entering areas where we've got massive development happening.

PC: So there's no legal requirement by a developer or a municipal level government or a council or anything to relocate these animals as we humans move into their space?

MZ: No, none at all. And in fact, when the kangaroos get into really troublesome situations and when they actually get land locked and wrapped within numerous developments, our government's attitude general is just to pull the guns out and have them shot.

PC: Where is this kangaroo now, is he is he with you still?

MZ: Yes. So after we retrieved him from the house we organized to get him to a vet hospital. We got all of that done and then we brought him back to our facility where we look after sick and injured native wildlife and specialize in kangaroos. And so I have a large kangaroo enclosure on the property where wild kangaroos like this one can basically recover and rehabilitate and get them ready for release back home.

PC: And what do you expect that to happen with this particular kangaroo? When do you expect to release him back into the wild?

MZ: Well we like to keep them for a reasonable amount of time to make sure they are 100 per cent okay, we'd like to get a full course of antibiotics and painkillers into him so that he can recover well and be comfortable, but kangaroos are all very different. Some of them cope with captivity very well, others just cannot cope at all. At the moment he's actually indicating to us that he's not very happy about being captive here and he's still pretty upset and confused. We will pretty much let him guide us. We might need to release him quick for his own benefit.

PC: And where would you release him, given that where he came from is all being urbanized?

MZ: That's a real problem, and by law I am obliged to take him back to his home area. And for real reasons, it's good to do that, he's going to have family and the mob that he's familiar with in that area so we’ll need to have a good look at the open grasslands that are nearby there and hope that he finds his way back to his family.

PC: Mr. Zabinskas, thank you for your time and we hope that the kangaroo has a full recovery.

MZ: So do we, he’s been hard worked, so we look forward to being able to get him back home safe and sound.

JD: That was Manfred Zabinskas from Five Freedoms Animal Rescue. We reached him in Victoria, Australia.

[Music: Drums]

Bigfoot Erotica

JD: Are you now, or have you ever been, a devotee of Bigfoot erotica? None of my business? Well, listen mister, if you're running for public office and there are pictures of a well-endowed Sasquatch on your social media accounts, it is my business — it's everyone's business now, because of Denver Riggleman. Mr. Riggleman is a Republican running to represent Virginia's 5th District. The campaign was already fractious when Leslie Cockburn, the Democrat running against him, tweeted the following yesterday. Quote “My opponent Denver Riggleman was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill,” unquote. Now the first part of that accusation is about Mr. Riggleman campaigning with a guy who cofounded a white nationalist group — obviously, a disturbing relationship. The second part of that accusation was illustrated by a picture from Mr. Riggleman’s Instagram account — a sketch of a Sasquatch with great abs and apparently outsized, censored genitalia and a reference to what appears to be a book Mr. Riggleman wrote entitled The Mating Habits of Bigfoot And Why Women Want Him, which suggests other disturbing relationships. Now Denver Riggleman says he is the author of what he calls quote “an anthropological book, sort of based on parody and satire,” unquote. Apparently Sasquatch related. But he says it's just a joke and his quote “military pals “came up with. And he told The Washington Post quote “I do not believe that Bigfoot is real, but I don't want to alienate any Bigfoot voters,” unquote. But isn't that what you would say if you were indeed a Bigfoot erotica devotee, and also if you weren't one? Either way I've got my own new Denver Riggleman, and it'll take more than a lighthearted denial to get you off my sass-watch list.

[Music: Jazz]

Back To Top »

Part 2: Mai Skaf Obit, Tree Saved

Mai Skaf Obit

Guest: Jay Abdo

JD: To anyone with a television set in Syria Mai Skaf was a household name. And so it came as a shock to Syrians to learn earlier this month that Ms. Skaf had died. Her breakout role was in the 1990s, it was on a program called Al-Ababeed. It was about a wealthy family living in the ancient Palmyra kingdom. In this scene, spoken in Arabic, the family is trying to force Mai Skaf’s character to marry a man she does not love. Here's a clip.

SOUNDCLIP

SCENE FROM AL-ABABEED: MAI SKAF SPEAKING IN ARABIC

JD: Ms. Skaf was only 49 years old when she died earlier this month, reportedly of a heart attack. In recent years she risked her life to speak out. In 2011 she protested against Syrian President Bashar al Assad. She was jailed for it, she fled to Paris where she lived until her death. Jay Abdo worked with Mai Skaf on Syrian TV shows. Mr. Abdo is also a Syrian actor. He now lives and works in Hollywood. He also fled Syria for speaking out against President Assad. We reached Jay Abdo in L.A.

PC: Mr. Abdo, many Syrians will be familiar with the name Mai Skaf, but to the rest of the world how would you describe her?

JAY ABDO: I would describe her as a free spirit, activist, artist, who grew up in a very healthy environment. Her mother and her older sister were a ladies of the, if I can say ,the intellectual community in Syria, who was persecuted by the Assad regime and they were always watched by the Assad regime.

PC: And growing up why were they watched, do you think, by the Assad regime?

JA: Because it was unfair, it was unjustice in Syria and Mai used to always sympathize with the poor people. As an actress, as a star in Syria she would always have her lunch with the crew not with the stars. She would always prefer to sit with the technicians, with the sound technicians and not with the director and producer at the table. So she was always a rebel in her everyday behaviour and she would send messages to all the people to remember the poor ones, remember those who need our voice — even from an early age.

PC: She was known to play characters and roles onscreen, strong women, rebellious women fighting for women’s rights. How much of a parallel was her onscreen character to her off screen?

JA: Identical. She was true and honest in both, because in life she was a very, very strong and stubborn activist, and that’s why she gave this impression to all the producers and directors and they loved her and they knew how to cast her because she played that very well.

PC: And when you learned that your colleague and your friend had died at just 49 years old, what were you thinking?

JA: I mean, I had the chance to see her the last time last year at the house of a mutual friend for a gathering, we were like 20 or maybe more people from Syria. And I had the chance to meet her for the last time knowing that this wasn’t the last time. And I told her, my wife and I told her that we should get together more often, you should come visit us in the United States. And it was, for me, I thought it was very rewarding to meet with her because she always encouraged me to speak out and to raise my voice because sometimes we are very scared to do so because of what the regime is doing to activists, even inside Syria or outside Syria. We were very, very scared because we still have family, we still have siblings inside and she was always the rebel who told us not to give up. There are more people in detention, every day more, and we they are voiceless and we are their voices, we have to keep fighting and we have to spread the word and we have to stop this farce of politics around the world stigmatizing the people of Syria. And we need to defend our rights and to stand up for our rights every day.

PC: And, as you say, she was not only a prominent voice, but she was also one of the first artistic voices to really speak out against Bashar al-Assad when the Syrian revolution started back in 2011. And for doing that speaking out what kinds of consequences did she face?

JA: First of all, marginalization, nobody wanted to hire her. When she was arrested the first time she was tortured for three or four days then released to give the lesson to other people, ‘If you dare, we are torturing even women. We are torturing even star actresses.’ And she kept fighting and then she got caught for the next time and she was tortured for maybe three or four days and when released she refused to leave the detention centre. She said ‘I'm not leaving without my friends.’ And they kept torturing her for another night. And then when she decided to leave the country because that was the advice of so many people around her, she learned she was banned from travelling and I think that she fled through the border the southern border to Jordan or to Lebanon, and from there she went to Paris.

PC: Why did you and Mai Skaf and other prominent actors in Syria at the time feel it was so important to speak out in 2011 and the years that followed?

JA: Because we need always strong voices to remind the people to encourage the citizens not to give up. And she was the one who always shouted for them, shouted in the streets of Paris. ‘Do not give up. Don't let the regime win. I believe in Syria. Syria belongs to the great people of Syria not to the Assad family.’ And she wanted to give another message to the Western and free world, that we don't agree with your policy. We don't agree with you saying that Bashar al-Assad is better than anybody else. We don't agree because he's evil and he's done this and that. She wanted to keep the fight on many levels to end this dictatorship and pave the way to a new democracy ruled by the Syrian people. We used to say ‘Is she out of her mind? Is she aware of what's going on? How governments are settling under the table, how politicians are playing, what Russia is doing, what Iran is painting in Syria?’ But she was the loudest voice to say ‘I am optimistic. I have faith in the Syrians. I'm tired but, I will keep the fight till the last breath.’ And whenever we felt tired she was the one who said ‘Stand up!’

PC: She reminded you to stand up?

JA: Yes.

PC: What does the loss of Mai Skaf, do you think, mean to Syrians?

JA: I think and I believe that her death makes us reunite again and start another phase of activism to end this dictatorship in Syria. This is what she demanded and we are following her demands.

PC: Jay Abdo, it's been good to talk to you. Thank you for sharing your memories and telling us about Mai Skaf. Thank you.

JA: Thank you so much, absolutely.

JD: Jay Abdo is a Syrian actor who had to flee Syria for speaking out against President Assad. He is now working and living in Los Angeles, that's where we reached him. To learn more about his late friend and his colleague Mai Skaf, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Piano Ballad]

Jarome Iginla Retirement

JD: He is a prototypical Canadian hockey star. He is fast, he is a goal-scorer, he is a forward who doesn't mind charging into corners to give hits, to take hits — and when is skating and shooting can’t solve the problem he's not afraid to drop the gloves. Off the ice, he is not afraid of an interview afraid of tough questions. Today, after 20 seasons in the National Hockey League — most of them with the Calgary Flames — Jarome Iginla announced his retirement. He never won the Stanley Cup, but he did win two Olympic gold medals — including an overtime win against the U.S. in 2010 on home ice in Vancouver. And that was one of the memories he shared at the Saddledome today during his retirement speech.

SOUNDCLIP

JAROME INGINLA: The city had celebrated, you know, for two straight weeks in Vancouver they found reason to celebrate, every day, all the time 24 hours, and it was it was pretty awesome. But, you know, that final game, the way it went when we were up a goal and we're counting down the time. Not really — not supposed to, but you are. And there's about a minute left and you're holding on to this lead and they score, the U.S. scores against us in the finals. Now we've got to go back in the room regroup and it's pretty quiet. But then guys start getting it going again and you start, you know, you're trying to manage those nerves and that anxiety and that energy in the building, but we know when we go back out there no matter what happens in that period we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. And thankfully it went the right way, Crosby scores, you know, we're grown men throwing our gloves off, hugging each other, you know, screaming and the way the city and the country — that was a memory that I never ever will forget. You know, growing up when I tried out for that first team at age seven I wasn't very good when I started, but when I did go to tryouts just to give you an idea that the cards are stacked against me. My grandpa took me to my first tryout, we didn't know that there was no Jersey, no socks. I skated around it first, everyone has their outfits, there are good players they've been playing for years, the first time I'm skating around with no jersey, no socks. My grandpa had to run and get me a jersey from the sports store in St. Albert. And so while I was out there wheeling around he went around and brought back one. I wasn't that thrilled to get it but it was a Calgary Flame jersey, I don't know if it was the last one left at the time, but I'm sure thrilled he got it. And finally, you know, I think of kids, I think of if there's any kids out there who are close and competing to making it and running off the sacrifices are worth it, I assure you they are, work as hard as you can. Give it your best. It's a wonderful, wonderful game to be a part of all the way through. Thank you to the whole hockey community. It is a great one to be a part of. Thank you so.

[APPLAUSE]

JD: Long, long time star player for the Calgary Flames, Jarome Iginla, speaking today at his retirement news conference.

[Music: Oboes]

Tree Saved

Guest: Edith George

JD: It is over three centuries old and may very well be Toronto's oldest tree. So earlier this year people who love the massive red oak were worried because the property it is sitting on was about to be put on sale. People in the neighbourhood were worried it could be chopped down, so they rallied for the City of Toronto to buy the land. Apparently that worked, because last week Toronto's city council gave city staff permission to negotiate the acquisition of the property. And that makes Edith George, a self-described Lorax of the mass of red oak tree, very pleased. We reached Edith George in Toronto.

PC: Ms. George, what's so special about this tree?

EDITH GEORGE: Well, there's heritage trees and then there is the great Red Oak. And this tree’s heritage, its roots and branches are intertwined in the history of Canada. And the difference between this tree and other trees is, this tree is the Rolls Royce. It's on its own little island and it's completely untouchable. It was a marker tree, as its sister did, of the historic Toronto Carrying-Place Trail and that’s a portage route that connected the Mississippi River via water all the way from the mouth of the Humber River all the way as a portage route to Lake Simcoe.

PC: So how old is this tree?

EG: The age varies between the experts, but it's between 250 to 350 years old, but I'm always safe to say it's over 250 years old. And if this tree could talk the stories it could tell about our country.

PC: And for those of us who haven't seen this tree, what does it look?

EG: The first time I saw its trunk, because it's in the backyard of a Coral Gable Drive a house, you cannot see the trunk, you see the canopy, the wide canopy. When you go in the backyard the first thing that happens is well, my legs started shaking and it almost brought me to my knees. In fact, one expert said to me “Edith, this is the perfect tree,” And I don't consider it a tree. When you look up into it’s branches its sacred, its’ like a cathedral.

PC: Its circumference is about five metres, as I understand it.

EG: Its circumference measured August 23, 2006, at 16 feet 4 inches.

PC: And how tall is it?

EG: 75 feet tall and 75 feet wide.

PC: OK. This is one ginormous tree.

EG: Yes it is.

PC: And now its current owners, this is a tree that is on private property. Aren’t they allowed, because it's on their own property, to do whatever they want with the tree?

EG: Well Piya, there are a couple of laws here in Toronto. First of all, there is a private tree by law, where if you want to cut a branch or whatever you gotta get permission from the city. And my understanding is the city would never give him permission to touch that tree. And the other thing is the City of Toronto, they have a special list of trees that have been recognized heritage under the Forest Ontario Heritage Tree Program, and that tree is one of those trees. And that gives this tree another special little coverage of protection.

PC: Is it true that the roots of this huge tree were affecting the structural integrity of the home?

EG: Well, that's an excellent question because I knew the Nicholas Jones family, and see they kept watering that tree constantly. And as long as you're watering that tree it's happy, it's a plant, it's getting — it's not — the roots aren't going to try and find any water, but I know for a fact the present owner that bought in April 2015, he knew the watering system, but I know he never watered this tree.

PC: All right, well there are those who believe the city's money is better spent elsewhere. So why do you think taxpayers should foot the bill for a tree on private land?

EG: So right now, as it is, because it was passed, the city is going to pay only half of what the property is, the other half is private funding. And why shouldn't the city pay for a red oak, which is like the Northern Dancer of red oaks? It gives us hope when we had that ice storm nothing could hurt that tree. Not one branch was off that tree. And when you look at it, it always brings me tears because it's nature, it's part of our natural landscape. And it gives us hope for a planet that's dying.

PC: What are you hearing from her neighbours?

EG: I've been getting — well a couple neighbours have said congratulations. And like I said, it's for me, what happened at City Hall, personally, all the stars aligned after 12 years. And I went through my adulthood and now it brought me into my senior part of my life — all of the stars aligned.

PC: Well, I will come and see the tree and I just want to thank you for your time today.

EG: No problem. And you have a lovely day.

PC: You too. Bye.

EG: Bye, bye.

JD: Edith George is an adviser to the Canadian Urban Forest Council, she is also a neighbour living near this red oak tree. We reached Ms. George in Toronto.

[Music: Piano Ballad]

Paul McCartney In My Life

JD: It is right there in the liner notes. Check the back cover of the Rubber Soul album by the Beatles and you'll see it, you'll see the writing credit for the track In My Life listed as Lennon, McCartney. The two songwriters shared credit on the vast majority of Beatles classics. But according to Sir Paul McCartney In My Life credits certainly his second billing in that credit is wrong. Sir Paul concedes that the lyrics were written by John Lennon, but to this day, he claims the majority of the song and the melody are his composition. Thankfully, science may have just finally squashed this long held Beatle beef. In a joint project between Harvard and Dalhousie University, researchers used a computer model to analyze 149 different components of Lennon and McCartney songs. And after comparing musical elements, such as frequency of melodic notes, pitch, phrasing and chords, the findings were pretty definitive. As Mark Glickman, senior lecturer in statistics at Harvard put it quote “The probability that In My Life was written by McCartney is 0.018, which basically means it's pretty convincingly a Lennon song. McCartney mis-remembers,” unquote. No word on whether Sir Paul McCartney has seen the study, but if he does one hopes will take his own advice and just let it be.

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July 30, 2018 episode transcript

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