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The AIH Transcript for January 15, 2020

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.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight...

CO: Smoke and Vladimir's. President Putin's dramatic shakeup of Russia's government might seem like a bold move for democracy -- but in Moscow, journalist says it's all about holding onto power.

CH: Too much information. They're supposed to help you get a date, but a new report finds that online dating apps like Grindr and Tinder are oversharing your data by giving out your intimate details.

CO: Game changer. The Women's National Basketball Association gets a new deal that will boost salaries and provide maternity leave, which for our guest means she doesn't have to choose between playing and starting a family.

CH: Dude, where's my card? After shelling out 60-K, a collector eagerly awaited the arrival of an extremely rare Pokémon card, but it never arrived. So he suing.

CO: You can't accuse him of dragging his ass. Because a European man is walking across North America with mules which are different. Plus there are three of them. Any questions?

CH: And the year of living despondently. If you've been feeling glum recently, you might want to check how old you are. A new study has pinpointed the age when we're most miserable: spoiler alert it's 47. As It Happens. The Wednesday Edition. Radio that guesses there are 47 Shades of Grey.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Russia leadership moves

Russia leadership moves

Guest: Anna Nemtsova

CH: What Vladimir Putin says he's doing and what he's actually doing are not often the same thing. And today, once again, the question is what is Vladimir Putin doing? Today, the Russian president put forward a plan for sweeping changes to how his country is run. On paper, the proposals look like reform. They would curtail the powers of the next president and beef up the powers of the prime minister and the government. President Putin's announcement seemed to come out of nowhere, and so did what followed: the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the entire Russian government. Anna Nemtsova is the Russia correspondent for The Daily Beast. We reached her at an airport on her way home to Moscow.

CO: Anna, why is President Putin proposing these changes to the Russian constitution?

ANNA NEMTSOVA: Well, Putin is in transition to grabbing more power. And he could not just walk in 2024 with Prime Minister Medvedev swap shares again. They've done it before and they could not do it once again.

CO: People who don't know how this works or doesn't work -- because you can't hold more than two terms, right? But Mr. Putin has managed to get four terms. Just explain quickly how in the past he was able to hold onto the presidency.

AN: So in the past, he had two presidential terms. Then he transferred the power to his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. So Medvedev's loyal substitutes for four years. And then in 2012, President Putin came back to his chair in the Kremlin. He returned as the president. And some people said that it would be just for one term, but others -- pessimists -- would say that that would be forever because so much has happened, so many mistakes had been made, that it would be unclear to see how Putin could let the power go. Where would he go? Where would he resign? But today, it's already clear to everybody.

CO: So the second term, this second term that President Putin is holding now, it would conclude in 2024.

AN: Today President Putin is holding the fourth term.

CO: Yes. And so what? So how do these changes -- how would he manage to hold on to power beyond 2024 with these changes?

AN: So clearly, President Putin is going to create a new position for himself, which would probably combine the prime minister's role and the head of state's role and the commander of chief's role. All of these roles will be Vladimir Putin's roles. It is just not clear now -- this is a transition period -- what exactly his position is going to be called. We don't know yet. And therefore, President Putin today announced that the new prime minister of Russia is going to be the former head of police --tax police. Somebody whose name we've never heard much before. And my sources tell me that Vladimir Puti needs this person -- some sort of politically weak personality -- who would hold this position of Prime Minister of Russia during this transition period until we find out which position President Putin is going to hold.

CO: You mentioned that on the face of it people are saying, well, this looks like a democratizing or further democratizing of the system. That it's giving the legislative branch more power. It's diminishing the powers of the office of president. That on the face of it, this looked as though these were progressive reforms. But when you look at it with a critical eye, how do you see this game playing out then?

AN: I see it as very similar situation to what happened recently in Kazakhstan. When President Nazarbayev stepped down --- sort of announcing that he gives a chance to young people to rule the country. But in fact, Nazarbayev stayed in power. And he continues to rule in Kazakhstan. And it's obvious to everybody. So no matter what position President Putin is going to take in the future and how he's going to pull that position, he is remaining in power. And there is no doubt that he is.

CO: Why is it so important to Vladimir Putin to hold office at that level?

AN: Well, we've seen so many blames lately on Russia. We heard in the past six years with countries blaming Russia for crimes of war, for assassinations in Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Today we see that very important court decisions are about to be made at the highest international courts. The decision on Yukos, a major Russian oil company that before belong to Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- ex Russian prisoner, who now lives in exile in London. And another very important court case decision on MH17 that took place in Ukraine in Donbass is about to be made. So all these important court decisions we are expecting to come up in the coming few months. And it's no surprise that today President Putin said that Russia in the future is not going to obey any international laws. In fact, that part of the constitution is going to be re-written. And as far as the president said during his address today, that Russian public will take parts in voting for all these changes. But later, we heard that it's not going to be a vote. It's going to be a discussion.

CO: So there will not be this referendum that was promised.

AN: No. There will be no referendum.

CO: What did you think the public reaction will be to this? Because from what you're describing and what we can see, it's fairly transparent, what's going on. Does that bother people in Russia? Are they concerned with how Mr. Putin is manipulating the system in his favor?

AN: Well, the Kremlin has been preparing the ground for these major changes for months. And we could see a police crackdown on their position in summer. On July 27 there was a major political protest and dozens and dozens, hundreds of young people got detained on that day. So Russian opposition is under unprecedented pressure. Russians have been living in this kind of environment of semi-democratic semi-authoritarian country for many years. And somebody told me today, oh, we've been in the gray zone for a long time and it doesn't look like it's going to be black. It's probably going to remain gray. But we are not hoping for any democratic reforms. And it sounded very sad, especially to hear something like that from somebody who's 25 years old.

CO: Anna we will follow these developments. I appreciate catching up with you today. Thank you.

AN: My pleasure.

CH: Anna Nemtsova is the Russia correspondent for The Daily Beast. She is based in Moscow.

[Music]

McGill divestment

Guest: Gregory Mikkelson

CH: Last month, McGill University decided to hold onto its investments in fossil fuels. And now one of its professors is vanishing in a puff of smoke. Gregory Mikkelson had been teaching environmental ethics and philosophy there for 18 years. Then in December, McGill's Board of Governors voted on a motion requiring them to divest the school's endowment from investments in fossil fuel companies. The governors voted against that motion. So Professor Mikkelson has decided it's time for him to divest himself of his job. We reached Gregory Mikkelson in Montreal.

CO: Professor Mikkelson, should I still call you professor?

GREGORY MIKKELSON: Well, you can until the end of the month.

CO: And then what happens to you?

GM: Well, then I'll no longer be an associate professor in the School of Environment and Department of Philosophy here.

CO: Are you tenured?

GM: Yes.

CO: This is a big deal to give up this job.

GM: Sure you could say for sure.

CO: All right. Let's talk about why you're doing it. This isn't the first time, as you know, that McGill's board has refused to divest from fossil fuels. So what made you decide that this time you were going to make such a dramatic gesture?

GM: So I actually think that the McGill case is kind of a microcosm of the larger Canadian problem. And that is -- okay -- we have a laudable commitment to reduce fossil fuel consumption. So at McGill, there is a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040. And some progress has been made in reducing some categories of fossil fuel consumption on campus. Other categories, they're not doing so great at. But the problem is that they fundamentally contradict themselves by saying, okay we're going to reduce our own consumption, but we're going to bank on the expansion of fossil fuel production because to invest in something is to bank on its expansion. So by continuing to invest our endowment money in the fossil fuel industry, we're just contradicting -- I would say morally contradicting, you know, the other commitments that we're making to reduce our consumption.

CO: I just want to give you the university's response to your position. And I think you've seen this. And this is a report that the board seems to have relied on in deciding they were not going to divest as you'd ask them to. It says a wholesale exclusion of entire sectors is a constraint that would likely reduce the opportunity to optimize the portfolio. At the same time it says divestment centered campaigns are a less effective way to achieve reductions in carbon emissions. And I think a rough translation of that is that we'd lose money if we divested and it is not going to make a whit of difference anyway. So what do you say to them?

GM: Well, I would say that they both contradict the science of what has occurred. So, first of all, there are peer-reviewed articles showing that divesting or not divesting from fossil fuel basically has a negligible impact on overall returns. So what you're getting is just a standard theoretical expectation that's actually contradicted by the actual empirical record. And that includes a study that was done of the McGill endowment, along with a number of other endowments that showed that if McGill had divested when students first ask them to back in 2012, by 2015 they would have been 40-million dollars richer. So first of all, it's a theoretical expectation, but it's contradicted by the empirical record. So the idea that divestment doesn't do any good also contradicts the science that's been done. So the studies that have been done show that divestment campaigns in the past, in fact, did make a difference. So divestments from South Africa generated political pressure that then got Canada and the US to pass restrictive legislation that reduce the harms caused by the offending companies. And in that case, you know they were companies doing business with South Africa. But ultimately reduced the harms caused by the apartheid regime and contributed to the end of it. So in case after case, divestment works.

CO: But the advice that McGill University is getting is that they would lose money. Whether you dispute that or not, that's the advice they're getting. Does the university not have an ethical responsibility to optimize its endowment? I mean, McGill, like all universities in Canada, they're struggling financially. Do they not have a moral obligation to be trying to get as much money as they can for the endowment for the sake of the university?

GM: Well, as in any question you have to weigh the benefits and the costs. We now have an entire continent on fire because of global warming in Australia. So even if we could get maybe a slightly better return from fossil fuel investments, is it actually worse the catastrophic cost to the human species and every other species on the planet? I would say definitely not.

CO: And McGill University would perhaps answer this small amount of divestment they would have is not going to make much of a difference for the continent of Australia.

GM: And again, that's contradicting the, you know, the evidence of what past divestment campaigns have done. So McGill is the alma mater of the Canadian prime minister. If the alma mater of the Canadian prime minister said we are no longer going to bank on the expansion of fossil fuel production, that would send a strong political message, especially when combined with the increasing number of other universities that are already taking that step. So University Quebec at Montreal, Concordia University, and you probably saw the CBC report about University of British Columbia which has an endowment about the same size as McGill's -- Friday they said, okay, we are going to divest our entire 1.7-billion dollar endowment.

CO: What has been the reaction on the part of the university to announcing your resignation?

GM: All I can speak to is the reaction of my colleagues in both the school of environment and the department of philosophy, as well as students that I've talked to and I guess to my great relief and something that I very appreciate, they've been very supportive.

CO: But no formal response from the university? No concern that they're losing you? I understand you're quite a popular professor.

GM: That may be the case. But certainly no response other than to accept my resignation.

CO: Meanwhile, you're out of a job.

GM: Exactly.

CO: Where are you going to go?

GM: Well, I'm rooted in in Montreal. My partner has a full-time job here. My kids are in school here, etc. So for the foreseeable future, we'll certainly be here.

CO: Well, I wish you success in that endeavor. And Professor Mikkelson, Mr. Mikkelson, thank you.

GM: Thank you.

CH: Gregory Mikkelson will be a professor at McGill for another couple of weeks. We reached him in Montreal.

[Music]

WNBA deal

Guest: Lexie Brown

CH: Professional women's basketball players in the US just reached a landmark labour deal. The Women's National Basketball Association and the players union agreed on an eight-year deal that would double salaries for some players and offer paid maternity leave. And that's not to mention the travel perks. The new deal offers players more leg room and comfy seats on flights and individual hotel rooms. Players in the WNBA will now, on average, make a salary of 130,000 dollars. Which, of course, is still nowhere near the multimillion dollar deals signed by their male counterparts. But Lexie Brown says it's a giant leap in the right direction. She's a rookie player with the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx and is currently playing overseas in Israel for a team there. We reached her in Herzliya, Israel.

CO: Lexie what does this new deal at the WNBA -- what does it mean for you?

LEXIE BROWN: For me, it's just a victory, I think, not just for our league -- I think it's a victory for all women's sports all over the world. It's been nice to see, you know, that our voices have been heard. Some of our -- I mean I wouldn't want to call them demands, I think I would rather call them needs -- I mean, some of our needs are being met. You know increase in salary, the benefits, the maternity leave, things like that. I mean I think it's just amazing. And credit to everybody who worked super hard to make this happen.

CO: And they're not just token changes, are they? I mean there's some substantial increases in what you're going to get. Give us a sense of how your life as a player is going to improve because of this deal.

LB: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me personally is, you know, having the option of not having to go play overseas anymore. Playing overseas you know, don't get me wrong, it's an amazing experience. You get to see the world, again getting paid to play a sport that you love, learn new cultures, meet so many amazing people. But, you know, it's still not home and it's still a really tough life. And it's a it's a tough grind, you know, to be away for seven or eight months out of the year and then hop right back into another season. So I think to have that option to be able to stay home and not be concerned about making money I think that's going to be huge for us.

CO: And you will make enough playing basketball to make a living. You'll be able to stay home and have that as your job.

LB: Yeah. And, you know, that'll be amazing. And they also are offering working opportunities for players that do decide to stay home. You know obviously it's not going to be as much as you could potentially make overseas. But, you know, the option is there and it wasn't before.

CO: Can you give us a sense of how much more money players will make? I understand the minimum salary for a female basketball player with the WNBA was about 45,000 US -- that was the minimum -- up to about 115,000 for veterans. What will change? How will that change?

LB: The rookie salaries are going to go up, you know, not super substantially. I think the biggest jumps are going to be for the mid-level and max contract players. Probably almost double, even triple, you know what they're making right now. After taxes they're still going to be taking home six figures, which is amazing. At the end of the day, you're going to have to work for those contracts, just like you work for any type of promotion at any job. But, you know, now that we have a number like that to be working for, this league is going to get even more competitive than it was before. And I think it's going to be really fun for fans to be able to watch that.

CO: We should put some context into this. Comparing this to male basketball players. Kawhi Leonard's salary last year was 32-million dollars. Does that still bother you?

LB: I mean [chuckles] it doesn't bother me. I mean, it's apples and oranges, in my opinion. I think the NBA is so much older than we are. And I think people forget that. I mean, I asked my dad about it all the time and he's like, you guys are light years ahead of what the NBA was that in there 22nd year of being an organization. I think we can't compare our salaries to them. And I think that we've stopped. You know, there were some players who got themselves into a little bit of trouble by doing that. And hopefully -- I don't know if 50-million dollar contracts are going to be on the table, but if we can get anywhere near, you know, seven figure salaries for WNBA players, you know, that would be a huge win in my eyes.

CO: Just for people who don't know. Your dad coached in the league, didn't he?

LB: The WNBA, yes. So he's seen this growth. He's been super excited to see how much the league has grown.

CO: One of the changes, though -- I mean, there are other things in this deal as far as more comfort and travel, being able to get a seat with a bit more leg room, but really a huge development is that there is full salary maternity leave. What does that mean for women players?

LB: Yeah, I think it's amazing. I think you didn't see very many WNBA players while they're playing having children. You know, me personally, I would have conversations with my own mom about, you know, when I wanted to start a family. And I've always just been like, I can't start a family until I get enough money that I think that I can, you know, survive on. And then I want to have my place in the league solidified. I mean you've got to think about things like that as a woman because that's probably a year that you're probably going to take off. You know, our body is our business. So when you decide to have a baby, you're making ultimately a business decision for yourself. So for them to implement that, I think it's amazing for us young women who want to have families that we don't have to pick basketball or having a family now. And I think that's really great. And I think a lot of us are super excited about that.

CO: Why do you think the WNBA owners agreed to this generous deal?

LB: I think that they've just seen the growth in the last few years. You know, there's been so much conversation about our league, about players in our league that I had never seen growing up. Even in college, I didn't see this much conversation about the WNBA. And I think that they've seen it. They've bought into it. You know that this league is growing. We're gaining interest from, you know, all ages. You know, they put us one of the 2K video game, which was huge. I still have like grown men and you like young boys messaging me on Instagram, sending me pictures of them playing with the Minnesota Lynx on their PlayStation, and I still think that's so cool. You couldn't tell me five years ago that you could get any men to play with the WNBA team on a video game that they play all the time. So this is just the first step to a lot of amazing things happening for us.

CO: Do you think it will change the way the players actually play the game? Do you think it will have an effect on that?

LB: For the big money that's on the table, I think that the games are going to be a lot more fun to watch and a lot more competitive. You're able to get your players to, you know, have a real off-season, work on things, be able to develop their skills, you know, in their own setting that they're comfortable with. I think that's going to impact the game in a positive way for sure.

CO: All right. Lexie we'll leave it there. I know you got to get some sleep because you're playing over there in Israel. But thanks so much.

LB: Thank you.

CH: Lexie Brown is a WNBA player for the Minnesota Lynx. We reached her in Herzliya, Israel, where she's currently playing for an overseas team.

[Music]

47.2

CH: If you just type the number 47 into Google, the first result is from Wikipedia: "47 is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48." That is conceivably the most boring entry on a site that includes definitions of "towel" "saltine cracker" and "Ryan Seacrest." But I mean, what do we expect? I mean, Wikipedia goes on to explain that 47 is a prime number, but don't tell that to an actual 47-year-old. They know there's nothing prime about it. That's according to former Bank of England economist David Blanchflower, who looked at data from 132 countries in the developed world and found that 47.2 is the age at which we tend to be most miserable. Professor Blanchflower has just published a paper entitled "Is happiness U-shaped everywhere?" That title refers to a graph which depicts people's mood from late adolescence to age 70. It starts high around age 20, and then it descends dolefully, hitting its nadir at 47.2 before ticking back up through the 50s and 60s. Now, if you're 47.2-years-old, why does the low point of the U mark the low point of you? Could be genetic. Primates like chimpanzees and orangutans apparently experience a similar mid-life bottoming out. It could be all the responsibility which keeps piling up, but eases as we get older. Whatever it is, if you're 47...it's whatever. Because while these kinds of studies try to get to the bottom of things, you're already there.

[Music]

Part 2: Dating apps like Grindr and Tinder are sharing 'really sensitive' data: report

Tinder and Grindr sharing

Guest: Finn Myrstad

CH: If you want to find love, you need to have an open heart. And if you're so inclined, an open app. Although it turns out some of those apps are entirely too open. According to the Norwegian Consumer Council, every time you use your phone, a large number of shadowy entities gain access to a treasure trove of your data. In a new report released this week, the council found that 10 popular apps, including the dating services Grindr, OKCupid, and Tinder shared user data with dozens of third parties. And that personal information they shared was often deeply personal. Finn Myrstad is the digital policy director for the Norwegian Consumer Council. He oversaw the report. We reached him in Oslo.

CO: Mr. Myrstad just how worried should people be by the results of your study?

FINN MYRSTAD: I think we should be really worried because we've uncovered really pervasive tracking on our mobile phones. At the same time, we also uncovered that it's really hard for us to do anything about it as an individual.

CO: What kind of information are we talking about?

FM: Really sensitive information like our sexual orientation or religious belief or it's information that can reveal that kind of information. So that could be our location data which can reveal where we live, where we work, where we spend our free time. So, so much information is being shared directly and indirectly from our phones.

CO: We will narrow this down to dating apps that people might have on their phones. And so what kinds of information and I guess privacy breaches have you found from people having dating apps on their phones?

FM: Yeah. So it's information that you actively give to the app. For example, one dating app where you have to answer a questionnaire such as: "What is your favorite cuddling position?" or "If you've ever used drugs? and if so, what kind of drugs?" So information that you probably like to keep private. And then we've seen information that is collected in the background and that could be your contact list, for example, or your location so where you are at any given time.

CO: And these are dating services people are familiar with like Grindr, OKCupid, Tinder. Isn't that by definition what they're supposed to be doing? I mean, if we're meeting people, you need to exchange an idea of who you are in order to attract someone who has similar interests or preferences or taste, right? So isn't that exactly how these things are supposed to function?

FM: Oh yeah. And I don't think anyone has a problem. But what we uncovered is not only do we share with the app that you're using, but the app is in turn sharing it with 10 or maybe 100 of other companies that you've never heard of, and that you've never have a chance of finding out actually has your data. There's a whole ecosystem of companies whose only living is to collect data from all the different apps we're using. So it's not only your dating app does reporting on you, but also other apps. And under our companies in the background, that are creating basically digital profiles about who you are, what your preferences are, what your vices are. And our worry, of course, is that people can become victims of manipulation and discrimination, for example, because these companies know so much about us. And it's really hard for us to know anything about them.

CO: We're seeing this in all kinds of ways, aren't we? People are having their voting preferences or their purchasing choices influenced because these companies that collectively know so much about us, right? So this is an extension of that, I guess.

FM: Oh, yeah. For sure. And what we do know is that it's really easy from the kind of data that we just talked about to figure out someone's mental state. For example, if you track my location over time and let's say I'm moving a lot and suddenly I start moving less -- that's a pretty decent indicator that I'm depressed, for example especially combined with other indicators. And so what we see is that it's really easy to understand people's psychological profiles based on this data, which of course in turn makes us really vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation.

CO: How far does it does it move out? How many ripples does it make? Because, first of all, the companies themselves, the apps are making this information available and then those marketing companies, do they then move on to sell that data even further?

FM: Yes, potentially thousands of companies each time you use an app. To just give you one example. So we investigated one dating app called Grindr and they have a partner called MoPub, which is owned by Twitter. And when we checked, the privacy policy of Grindr, they referred us to the privacy policy of MoPub. And it says you need to read the privacy policy of all our partners. And MoPub in turn had 170 different partners that they potentially share data with. And just one of those partners had around 4,000 different partners that they could share data with. So clearly the potential for sharing is more or less limitless.

CO: When you speak of dating apps like Grindr that caters to a gay clientele, what kind of danger might that actually present for people if they're tracking their location? People go to places, to countries even where it's dangerous for them to be having same-sex relationships. So what vulnerabilities are there?

FM: I think that is probably the biggest vulnerability. So we found in our research that the fact that you had the app was transmitted to many third parties. So that is a pretty good indication that you're gay or bi for example. And obviously if that together with your location, it's really easy to track down where you are. So obviously this can put people's life at risk.

CO: We know, so far that Twitter has suspended Grindr from ad platforms while it investigates other groups like the match group that owns OKCupid. And Tinder says it's working with outside companies to assist with providing services and they don't share a specific user data, only that which is deemed necessary for the services. So are you saying that they are responding to these concerns?

FM: I am glad they are responding, but it's definitely far from enough. Because Twitter claims to have partners which 50,000 different apps. So I think they need to look at their whole operation and how they share data with third parties.

CO: And this is just another example of how people are under surveillance from the private sector in ways that we would never allow the government to have such surveillance on our lives. But it seems that people don't really care, that that's a price they're willing to pay in order to have these conveniences. Is that part of the issue?

FM: I hear that a lot. But research shows that people are really concerned about their privacy. But when they're left with take it or leave it choices -- to being a part of Facebook or being a part of a dating service is what is their life right now considering potential future consequences, it's really really difficult. And therefore, it's what we call a privacy paradox. People feel that they have no choice. So they sort of close their eyes and they click yes. So what we're trying to do is to ensure that services have much more layered controls, that sharing is off by default. And so that people can be empowered again to make real choices, because today it is just take it or leave it. And for most people, that's not really an option.

CO: Mr. Myrstad good work. And I appreciate what you've done. And thanks for speaking with us.

FM: Oh, thank you so much for inviting me.

CH: Finn Myrstad is the digital policy director for the Norwegian Consumer Council. We reached him in Oslo. And you can find more on that story on the As It Happens website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Marc Garneau

CH: If Iran doesn't step up soon with cash, Canada might. At a press conference today, Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Parliamentary Secretary Omar Alghabra left open the possibility that Canada may offer interim compensation to the families of those who died on Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752. They also said Canada is still seeking official status in an investigation that Iran is leading into how that plane was shot down. That status would allow Canadian officials to analyze the flight recorders data. One reporter asked Transport Minister Garneau, if in the meantime, they trusted Iran to lead a fair investigation.

SOUNDCLIP

MARC GARNEAU: So investigations are very complex undertakings. It is very very important to methodically and systematically gather all of the information before you have a full and reliable picture of the situation. There are things coming out all over the place these days. And some of them are clearly less credible than others. But the point is, it's important not to jump to conclusions until you really have put all of the information that is available together to know what happened. And we will not accept a situation where we feel that we're not being given the information that we're looking for. Canada, make no mistake about it, is going to be going to the very bottom of this to get all of the answers that are needed to know exactly what happened.

ABIGAIL BIMMAN: I'm wondering how hard Canada will push Iran to remunerate these families if there's any sort of timeframe and what you'd be asking for.

MARC GARNEAU: One of the requirements from Canada's point of view, along with justice, is compensation. Compensation to be provided by those that stand guilty of being playing a role in this tragic accident. But let's do the homework first and then we'll get to that.

ABIGAIL BIMMAN: These concerns that we're hearing from some dual national families that Iran won't help repatriate if they hold dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship. Is that the case?

MARC GARNEAU: From our point of view, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, as you've heard us say, perhaps a thousand times and we believe very strongly in that. So in our view, the 57 Canadians that lost their life tragically are Canadian citizens and they are entitled to all the rights that Canadian citizens have. And we will do our utmost to make sure that those rights are accorded to them.

CH: There was Transport Minister Marc Garneau answering questions from Global News reporter Abigail Bimman.

[Music]

Nancy Pelosi

CH: If you were impatient about impeachment, today was important. Because it was the end of the impasse. For weeks, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi withheld the articles of impeachment from the Senate, which made Republicans in particular pretty antsy. But this morning, Ms. Pelosi announced the lawmakers who had been appointed the managers or prosecutors of the upcoming impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. And after she did, the House voted to transmit those articles to the Senate. The trial is not expected to really get under way until next Tuesday. But today a ceremony was held to mark this next step. Before the vote, Nancy Pelosi spoke in the House. Here's some of what she had to say, including what seemed to be some mobster slang.

SOUNDCLIP

NANCY PELOSI: The president of United States in using appropriated funds and acted in a bipartisan way by this Congress, funds that were meant to help the Ukraine fight the Russians. The president considered that his private ATM machine I guess, and said he could say to the president, he could make -- "do me a favor." Do me a favor? Do you paint houses too? What is this? "Do me a favor." So we have a situation that is very sad. Don't talk to me about my timing. For a long time, I resisted the calls from across the country for impeachment of the president for obvious violations of the Constitution that he committed. But recognizing the divisiveness of impeachment, I held back. Frankly, I said this president isn't worth it. But when he acted the way he did in relationship to withholding funds from Ukraine in return for a benefit to him, that was part personal and political, he crossed a threshold. He gave us no choice.

CH: There was US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking in Washington today.

[Music]

Mule walker

Guest: Emile Brager

CH: Emile Brager has two passions in life: walking and mules. So it just made sense to him at least to leave his life in France, purchase three mules, and hit the road. We reached Emile Brager on a farm about 200-kilometres west of Saskatoon.

CO: Emile we have to know what makes a man wake up one day in France and decide, I'm going to walk across North America with three mules?"

EMILE BRAGER: It is a teenager dream. I wanted to know these countries better. I enjoy so much the landscape, the wildlife, to be outside also, when it is not too cold. And I like to meet people.

CO: But I mean you say that was a teenage dream. How old are you now?

EM: 68. [Laughter]

CO: [Laughter] So it took you a while to get your dream then.

EM: Yeah.

CO: Okay. So you came to with this to the United States first and then you got your mules. Where did you get the mules from?

EM: I got the mules in Northwest Mules. It is the company who buys and sells and raise mules in Idaho. So I went there and I bought three mules. And I start the ride 1st of July and cross Idaho, Montana, a little bit of North Dakota to see the buffaloes. And then I went northwest to Canada.

CO: And now you are in Saskatchewan, just at the Alberta border.

EM: Yep.

CO: Okay. So I'm looking at a picture of you. And you are out on the road there and you have a lot of frost on your whiskers and your mules have a lot of frost on their whiskers. [Laughter]

EM: [Laughter] We are in the winter.

CO: So are you still out there every day or are you finding someplace to keep warm now?

EM: It is something amazing because in Canada people do not want (that) I stay out for the night. So I have to be a ranch to buy hay and hordes of barley to feed the mules, because outside of there is nothing or not enough. So when I am close to a ranch, I sleep in the barn, I sleep in the bunkhouse, sometimes in the house. And we share something with some people of the ranch. And Canadian hospitality is really something important.

CO: So do the Canadians let you sleep in the house?

EM: Yes, sometimes, yes.

CO: Have you had any moments when you thought, "I don't know why I did this. This was a stupid idea."

EM: No, it's not a stupid idea. [Laughter]

CO: No. Any moments when you regretted that you made this decision?

EM: No, no, no, no. Sometimes it is more difficult than another. But no, I try to keep going and I try to enjoy every day. Every day there is something nice to enjoy. So take it easy. Enjoy what is good and do not fear too much.

CO: But the question is, are the mules enjoying it?

EM: The mules -- I take care of them. They do their job. And if I want to quit, I will do. I am my own boss. If they want to quit, they will have to ask me. [Laughter] So I take good care of them, and the best way to take good care of them is do not rush them, and to feed them well. So they go from one place they eat well to another place where they expect to eat better. And they do.

CO: But we know that mules are supposed to be very stubborn.

EM: That is not true. The mules have always had their own opinion about the job to do. So if you convince them the job you ask of them -- it is good for them to go form from one place to another place, where we will eat -- well they do it. And with mules, the problem is relationship. If they like you, they really do for you. If they do not like you, they do not.

CO: [Laughter] Do they like you? Emile, do they like you? I would presume they do.

EM: I suppose. I am the boss, but I try to be the right boss.

CO: And we should make it clear, these are mules. They're not donkeys, right?

EM: They are mules. Mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.

CO: And they're not asses.

EM: No they are not asses. They cannot reproduce.

CO: Okay. So you are going to stay where you are for now. When will you move on?

EM: Sunday the weather will become a lot better. And now I am just helping to feed cows. And we enjoy the relationship with the people where I am.

CO: Right. Because you're the boss, but do you think that your mules are going to want to move on? It sounds like they're getting pretty comfortable where they are and not being on the road.

EM: No, no. They want to move. They are like children in a school yard. They want to get out.

CO: Do you talk to them?

EM: Oh, yes. I talk to them in French. They are beginning to understand French. [Laughter]

CO: So you have bilingual mules?

EM: Yes. [Laughter]

CO: All right, Emile I understand you have some cows to feed so we're going to let you go.

EM: Okay.

CO: And give our best to Jojo, Jack, and Sally.

EM: Okay. I will do.

CO: [Laughs] And good luck on your trip.

EM: Thank you very much. Have a good evening.

CO: Thank you. You too.

CH: We reached Emile Brager on a farm about 200-kilometres west of Saskatoon. He's six months into what he envisions as a two year journey, walking around the US and Canada with his three mules: Jack, Jojo, and Sally.

[Music]

Part 3: Baby Archie may sound more like Joe Canada than Prince Charles if Royal Family moves

Kentville Nova Scotia emergency room

Guest: Rob Miller

CH: Rob Miller has been an emergency doctor at Kentville, Nova Scotia's Valley Regional Hospital, for nearly 15 years. But by the end of February, he'll be gone. Dr. Miller says he's leaving the hospital not because he wants to, but because conditions there have left him no choice. Another emergency doctor, Keith MacCormick is leaving Valley Regional this month. And a third colleague, Rebecca Brewer, plans on significantly reducing her shifts. We reached Dr. Rob Miller near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

CO: Dr. Miller what has changed at Valley Regional Hospital since you started working there?

ROB MILLER: Well, I started in 2005. And what's changed is the overcrowding and the overcapacity and the number of orphaned patients, those patients that don't have family doctors, has grown to dangerous proportions. We've had days in the past year where we've had 24 admitted patients in a 20-bed unit, which means we're seeing all our patients in hallways. We've seen patients in supply closets. We see patients wherever we can. And there's no privacy. It's an immoral standard of care. We can't do some private exams that need to be done for comprehensive care. You know, it feels like we're on the Titanic and you know, we're going under at times.

CO: What has brought you to the point where you're actually going to, as a form of protest, leave the hospital? You and the other doctors.

RM: We're actually not the first to do this. We're actually physicians 3, 4, and 5. But there was a very well qualified, five year trained, emergency physician who was from the Valley who didn't last eight months there. And that was kind of the canary in the coal mine for me. But we were the only ones who put up a fuss when we left because we felt we had to and we felt we were forced to actually for public safety reasons, for patient advocacy reasons.

CO: Can I suggest that that's a bit of a contradiction there, because if public safety is of concern, the problem not get deeper if you and this other doctor Keith MacCormick and a third colleague, Rebecca Brewer, who is going to significantly reduce her shifts -- aren't you increasing the jeopardy that people might be in?

RM: Well, we're not withdrawing our services from Nova Scotia. We are withdrawing our services from one site in particular, because we asked for an external review from the deputy minister of health this past summer. And it was granted. The deputy minister looked at the data and said, there's problems here. And he ordered the NSHA, the Nova Scotia Health Authority, to look at the problems. And the NSHA has not followed the recommendations. And that was what really crushed our physician group in terms of getting any progress on this.

CO: So now, is it not true though that Nova Scotia's Health Authority CEO, Brendan Carr said there were problems, deep problems. He said that he's planning to tour emergency departments across the province to get feedback. There's been reviews. Is it possible that they need time to fix this? There's an acknowledgment that there are deep problems and they need to be able to do it well.

RM: I mean, we requested this in June. They dragged their feet for months and months and months. And we finally got them to hold the external review in October. The report came out in November. They are three months down the road and they are still not abiding by the recommendations. I mean, this is news to me that he is saying this. You know, it might be a sign of hope. I am getting a little hopeless with the Nova Scotia Health Authority. They seem to be in denial that there is a crisis. There's officially 50,000 Nova Scotians who don't have family doctors. I can tell you it's probably closer to 200,000. Our premier doesn't want to acknowledge that. But yes, I feel awful for the patients. They have no other option but to show up in the emergency department for routine care that should be provided at the primary care level. And that's where the money should be put into place. I don't want to sound political. I don't want to make this political because I don't belong to any political party. But this approach to the government has been a disaster.

CO: The health authority is also saying that it has other doctors ready to pick up the slack at the Valley Regional Hospital in your absence and the absence of your colleagues as well. So what's your response to that?

RM: I found that statement insulting because they're not paying any of the attention to the fact that they were the ones who triggered the crisis in saying no to the recommendations of an external review report. For them to say that we're replaceable is just another slap in the face. And that's what we've been facing from them all along.

CO: But what impact will your gesture have if they are simply going to find ways to that? They're not going to say, well this is an even bigger crisis. They're saying basically we can cope.

RM: If they're going to ignore five fully certified emergency physicians leaving in a year, they're taking risks with people’s lives. Because it's not that easy to find certified emergency physicians in the Maritimes right now.

CO: What is so clear is the frustration in your voice and just how you come to this point where doctors rarely get to this place that you and the others are. Do you think it's fixable? I mean, do you see anything that's out there that indicates that even this gesture is going to lead to the solutions that you think you need?

RM: If they called me tomorrow and said, hey, we're going to initiate those recommendations that were in the external review, I'd say, let's talk. And I'm sure my other two colleagues would say the same thing. We're advocating for good patient care, safe patient care, safe conditions for the people who look after patients as well. And an [inaudible] administration that doesn't seem to be acknowledging that there are problems.

CO: We'll leave it there. Dr. Miller. I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

RM: Thank you very much Carol.

CH: Rob Miller is an emergency doctor in Nova Scotia who is leaving his hospital over concerns about understaffing and overcrowding. We reached him today near Yarmouth.

[Music]

Luke Kuechly

CH: At the age of 28, he's already considered to be one of the best linebackers to ever play in the NFL. But the Carolina Panthers' Luke Kuechly has just announced his retirement. Mr. Kuechly has distinguished himself with a number of awards since he first signed with the Panthers eight years ago, including twice being named the League's Defensive Player of the Year. But he's also suffered at least two concussions, which led Sports Illustrated to call him the "poster child for the NFL's concussion problem." In an emotional video posted on the Panthers' website, Mr. Kuechly explained why he has decided to quit the game. Here's some of what he said.

SOUNDCLIP

LUKE KUECHLY: I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to play this game since I was in fourth grade. And I've been with the Panthers now for eight years. And it's never the right time to step away. But now is the right time for me. And it's a tough decision. I've thought about it a lot. And it makes me sad because I love playing this game. I've played it since I was a little kid and it's my favorite thing in the world to do. And the memories I have from this place and this organization and playing on the field with these guys, they will never go away. And sitting right now on the linebacker room and the amount of memories I've had from this room alone, could fill a book. And these are the best times of playing. Obviously on the field is awesome. But some of the best times of playing this game are behind the scenes in the locker rooms, in these meeting rooms, on the buses, traveling to games. You can't replicate that anywhere else. And that's why this is so hard to do -- to move on in a different direction. But in my heart, I know it's the right thing to do. And it's hard. But there's only one way to play this game since I was a little kid is to play fast and play physical and play strong. And at this point, I don't know if I'm able to do that anymore. And that's the part that is the most difficult. I still want to play, but I don't think it's the right decision. So I thought about it for a long time, and I think now is an opportunity for me to step away with what's going on here. I think we've got a really good linebacker room, I think Shaq and those guys are going to step and do a tremendous job. So thank you, Panther fans. Thank you everybody in the NFL for your constant support. And now it's time to move in different direction.

CH: Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly explaining why he's leaving the NFL at 28-years-old.

[Music]

Archie's accent

Guest: Stefan Dollinger

CH: He has a suitably royal name: Master Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. But what if Harry and Meghan's baby son grows up sounding less like this:

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: [Person speaking with an English accent] I feel that it is a very impressive ceremony if one goes about it in the right way.

CH: And more like this:

SOUNDCLIP

JEFF DOUGLAS: [Man speaking in a Canadian accent] My name is Joe! And I am Canadian!

CH: Of course, we'd have no objection to Archie growing up sounding like our friend and former As It Happens host, Jeff Douglas. But the royal baby's accent is the latest potential sticking point in the Sussex's move to Canada. Stefan Dollinger is a sociolinguist at the University of British Columbia. We reached him in Vancouver.

CO: Stefan, how important is it, do you think, to the royal family and perhaps to people in Britain in general that Archie grows up with a proper English accent?

STEFAN DOLLINGER: Well, if Archie is like other people, there's a certain expectation on what somebody from a particular background is supposed to sound like. And as somebody who is in succession to the throne -- even though he is further removed from it -- there's the expectation that he sounds like an RP speaker -- received pronunciation speaker, which is the standard English accent and pronunciation that his father speaks and his grandmother. So there's a reasonable expectation that he sounds like that.

CO: And if he is spending half of his year, one would presume that he's going to school in Canada eventually, what are the possibilities that when he goes back for the summer holidays to Buckingham Palace and hangs out with his cousins, that he is going to speak like them? Or is he going to speak like us?

SD: This is a very interesting scenario. So presumably, if he's living in Canada, and he at some point go to the preschool or to a school where he's going to talk to other Canadian kids, so he's most likely to acquire a standard Canadian accent, which is the way you speak -- not I. [Laughter] So that will be one chance. But given that there's a certain interest that he maintain or develop an RP accent, there's a chance that he grow up bi-dialectally so that he can switch around between a certain Canadian accent and the standard RP accent. Now, that's one scenario. Having said this, because there's a back and forth, it's very likely that Archie is going to develop some intermediate forms, some fudged forms. There are some things in language and land that lend themselves more to mixing -- and vowel sounds is one of them. Lexical choice. So there's a few things that will probably be idiosyncratic to Archie.

CO: Wow. So fudged forms. How do you think that's going to go down at dinner with the Queen?

SD: Yeah, that'll be very interesting. I think there's a few things like we all know British English features now in the RP accent where, you know, there are certain hallmarks. For instance, the vowel sound in trap is usually [in English accent] trap -- so it's path and staff and math and cancel. Rather than [in Canadian accent] bath, staff, and math, and cancel. So those are things that are sort of hallmarks of English English. The mixing then would be that he'd have certain things like, you know, he'd kind of combine the more Canadian features. Like in Canadian English, we don't distinguish between the vowel sounds in "lot." And "thought" the past tense of "think." So where we sayt "lot" and "thought." He might in British English might want to say [English accent] "lot" and "thought." So it's a different story here. And it really depends on his talent, on his exposure. So by and large his accent will be decided if no intervention is made by the exposure that he has to particular groups.

CO: But I mean, even if he gets an English accent, the Royals speak Royal English, don't they? It's far more posh than others -- the commoners in England. So, I mean, what are the chances he could just get that absolutely right tone and that arch. He is named Archie. But will he have that arch sound that he is supposed to have that will make him acceptable in his circle?

SD: [Laughs] Yeah, that is really funny. I mean Harry's father, Prince Charles, has been known to be speaking out in a more conservative form of the English. So he is a conservative guy when it comes to language. His grandmother, on the other hand, has sort of been adapting her conservative RP accent over the years. If you listen to her Christmas speeches, they have become more and more relaxed in terms of the conservative nature of her sound.

CO: But he'd be saying that is getting [Canadian accent] "about, eh?" We are going to have to teach him a lot.

SD: Yeah. So this phenomenon, the "ut" and "boot" is called Canadian raising because the first part of this is [inaudible] raised. And if he acquires that then I think he can be a real Canadian. [Laughs]

CO: But I'm just picturing him. Besides going back to hang out with the cousins and be taken as a Canadian "eh" then he's also going to show up at school with the name Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Seventh in line to the British throne, son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. And then he's going have this accent. I mean, what's that going to mean to him in the schoolyard? That sounds like setting himself up for some pretty rough treatment.

SD: Yeah, I mean, there are lots of titles that he has to remember and names and things like that. So, yeah, I think it's a sort of choice that the parents and the team need to make. Does he want to blend in or does he want to stand out? Or does he stand out anyway? With this respect I think his parents are taking a very bold step in this whole idea of stepping back from the royal family and supporting the Queen but not being active members of it, right. Kind of interesting because where would this leave him?

CO: Well, his mom is an American and his dad's a Brit. So maybe he'll pick up a bit of both.

SD: A little bit. But usually it is the peers that decide what he's going to sound like. The question is, is he going to spend more time in Canada or more time in England? Or is he one of those people that just, you know, develop their own merged pronunciation system. Then he would stand out in both corners.

CO: Poor Archie. He's going to have a lot of peers. So he's going to have to figure this out. [Laughter] Stefan it's great to talk with you. Thank you.

SD: Thank you.

CH: Stefan Dollinger is a sociolinguist at UBC. We reached him in Vancouver. And there is more on this story. You can find it on the As It Happens website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Ken Jennings

CH: Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings is now the G.O.A.T: the Greatest Of All Time. On Tuesday night, Mr. Jennings came out on top of the game show's greatest of all time contest -- winning one million dollars and beating Jeopardy's other two best known champions: James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. Now, all three of these guys are mind blowing humans search engines who seem to be able to call up any facts in a fraction of a second. But after his victory match aired last night, Mr. Jennings told Seattle's KOMO News about the real key to winning and what Jeopardy host Alex Trebek said to him afterwards.

SOUNDCLIP

KEN JENNINGS: You know, on average Jeopardy there's three very smart folks there. So most of the people know most of the answers most of the time. So it often does come down to your timing on the buzzer.

KELLY KOOPMANS: So what's the trick?

KEN JENNINGS: It's not speed. You can't buzz as soon as you know. You have to wait for Alex to finish reading the question. And then there's like a beat. There's like a pause and then you can buzz. And if you buzz in earlier than your buzzer is activated, you get locked out for a fraction of a second. So you're just trying to lock into the cadence of Alex's voice, which of course, we've all been hearing for decades and just trying to find that exact right milliseconds. It's like a Zen thing. You know, if you can get into the rhythm of it, you can do it.

KELLY KOOPMANS: There's been a lot of emotion around Jeopardy, of course, over the last several months. Did Alex say anything to you after the show, maybe behind the scenes? And did you say anything to him?

KEN JENNINGS: You know, it's been very special to spend some time with Alex. I've admired him my whole life. But especially now after his diagnosis, just how, you know, the kind of the courage and the transparency he's shown in his fight against pancreatic cancer. And one of the things he said that really touched me was that, you know, he's gotten hundreds of thousands of -- he's heard from so many people. And he didn't really understand how much he meant to people. You know, like he said, Ken most people don't get to hear all this stuff, nice stuff about them, because it comes after they die. And I was still here. I got to hear this. He was very touched.

CH: That was Ken Jennings speaking with KOMO news anchor Kelly Koopmans in Seattle. On Tuesday night, Ken Jennings officially became the G.O.A.T or the Greatest Of All Time on Jeopardy!

[Music]

Pokémon card missing

Guest: Mark Zaid

CH: It's just one little card, but it's worth a lot of coin. Not that you'd know from looking at it -- unless you're a serious collector of Pokémon cards. Which may sound like a rare breed of a person. But apparently it's not nearly as rare as this particular card. A collector in Dubai paid 60-thousand dollars for it online and figured that was a steal. But then it was actually stolen or lost before it got to him. So now he's suing the shipping company that failed to deliver it to him. Mark Zaid is the lawyer representing that collector and we reached him in Washington, D.C.

CO: Mr. Zaid, what is so special about this card that someone would pay 60-thousand dollars for it?

MARK ZAID: This card is one of only a small number that was specifically made for a competition in 1999 and given out to the winners. So it is literally one of the only cards of this kind that existed in the world.

CO: What does it look like?

MZ: It looks like a trading card -- a baseball card type size. Japanese lettering. And Pokémon characters on it. As I've told this story of this case to people, you know, the normal reaction is, "Oh my God, my kids have Pokémon cards! Let me go look through them." Well this is, again, a very special card that was manufactured for this competition. So unfortunately, maybe people have money in their Pokémon cards, but they doubtfully have a 60-thousand dollar Pokémon card.

CO: All right. These cards have characters on them usually -- including kind of a Pikachu. And by saying that I've exhausted my knowledge of Pokémon. But this one's different, though. How would this be used in the game?

MZ: So I don't think it had a use in the game. And I think your knowledge [chuckles] of Pokémon maybe even exceeds mine because I probably couldn't have come up with even Pikachu. But this would have been a card that was presented to the third place winner, as I understand it, in a particular competition. So as one expert in collecting Pokémon cards referenced it that there are more Olympic gold medals out there than this type of Pokémon card. So think of it as an Olympic medal, but rarer.

CO: Wow. So let's get to the story of how you get involved with it, because your client is a collector in Dubai who paid this 60,000 US price for the card. And then what happened?

MZ: They bought it from an eBay sale and the seller was in Iowa. It was originally offered for 85,000 dollars and they negotiated it down to 60,000. And because it was an out of country sale, the proper way to do it is to get a shipping company involved. This company called Aramex, which is a Dubai company and has a location in Queens, New York. And it was shipped there and it never showed up in Dubai after that. It arrived from the US Postal Service to Queens at the company. And from there, it was lost.

CO: Lost or stolen.

MZ: Well, there's no evidence to indicate that it was stolen. So I'm certainly not going to make any accusations against the company. It was signed for by a representative of the company. And what they say is that, well, we were having problems with the postal service who would ship us a bulk number of items and we would sign for everything without checking to see what among them is there. Well, unfortunately, that's not how shipping works and it's not our problem. The shipping company signed for it. End of story. It disappeared in their possession. It was insured for 50,000 dollars with the US Postal Service. But the postal service did its job. It shipped the item from Iowa to New York City. So there was no means by which to collect any of that insurance money. You know, it's again a baseball card sized item that would have been properly wrapped and so it would be in a small box. You obviously don't put any indication of significant value on the outside of the box for fear it could disappear during shipping.

CO: That's right. You don't put "This is worth a lot of money. Please handle it with care." [Laughs]

MZ: No rare Pokémon card on the box or anything of the sort.

CO: Okay. You can track the movement of everything you ship now. So how could this just fall off the face of the earth unless it was taken by aliens?

MZ: Right. You would think I ordered a Domino's last night, I tracked the pizza, you know, from their door to my door. It was so easy. Actually, at one point, their system indicated it was out for shipment, meaning going to the collector, the owner in Dubai. But then it was determined, no. They never did it. They lost track of it in their possession. And this buyer is out over 60,000 dollars.

CO: What does your client want them then?

MZ: The card, of course, ultimately. And maybe you always have a hope that it could show up. Maybe it's under someone's shelf or fell under a desk. Who knows? But unfortunately, at this stage, the only thing one can do is seek financial compensation for loss of the sales, purchase, attorney's fees and possibly other type of punitive damages on the company to make sure this never happens again.

CO: I can't resist asking you because normally journalists like me are talking to you about this other fame you have that you're the lawyer who represents the whistleblower whose complaints sparked the impeachment of the US President. So how much of a game change is this for you to be tracking a Pokémon card?

MZ: It's not much of a game change at all, actually. I have a vibrant national security practice that deals with the US government and other governments. But I also have a very significant law practice that deals with collectibles. I am a part-time comic book dealer and high end collector of historic documents of presidents and Supreme Court justices and famous people from around the world. So I do a lot of work in the collectibles field. And many high end collectors and dealers like major auction houses come to me to act as their lawyer in disputes, especially when it's involving other governments or very sensitive matters. So this is actually a very typical case for me.

CO: All right. Well, I'm sure we'll be talking to you again in some capacity.

MZ: No doubt. There'll be more presidents that I'll have to deal with no matter what their political party.

CO: Or collectibles or both.

MZ: There could be presidents who collect items, I'm sure. [Laughter] And if they want to hire me, I'm available.

CO: Mr. Zaid thank you.

MZ: Thank you.

CH: Mark Zaid is a lawyer in Washington, D.C. He's representing a collector of rare Pokémon trading cards who's suing a shipping company for failing to deliver a 60-thousand dollar purchase to him. Mr. Zaid also represents the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment of US President Donald Trump. But you can find more on the Pokémon story at cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Ice Ice Maybe

CH: Around this time every year in Ottawa, people get ready. They wash out their thermoses, lay out their thickest socks, and wait for the official announcement from the people who run the Rideau Canal about when they can finally hit the ice. In the past, the enormous outdoor rink has been fully operational by January. So far this winter, though, skaters have been frozen out. You may be wondering why the Rideau Canal rink is not fully functional yet. You may also wonder if the people responsible for that decision can rap. Whether you wondered the second thing or not, the National Capital Commission has your answers. Here are CEO Tobi Nussbaum and his staff rapping to the tune of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby."

SOUNDCLIP

[Ice Ice Baby Instrumental]

VOICE 1: Ice, ice, maybe. Ice, ice, maybe. [Rapping] All right stop. Collaborate and listen. The ice is back but not enough in position. Flooding with tonnes of H20 litres. Building a base. 30 centimetres. When will it go down? Yo, we don't know. Weather's in flux, high and then low. To the extreme, we got no consistent range. It's why we got to fight this climate change. Dance! Grab your snowshoes, skis, or winter bike. The region's full of things that you'll surely like. If the weather won't let you glide on the Rideau, we got tons of places you can play in the snow. There's the SJAM, Greenbelt, and Gatineau Park, where you can have fun until it gets dark! If there is a problem, yo, we'll solve it. Check out the hook, while our team resolves it. Ice, ice, maybe.

CH: To the tune of Ice Ice Baby, that was the CEO of the National Capital Commission, Tobi Nussbaum and his maintenance team rapping about Ottawa's Rideau Canal. The commission says the skating season will launch once ice conditions are safe.

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January 15, 2020 Episode Transcript

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