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The AIH Transcript for April 03, 2020

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CH: You can give them this, they are practicing what they're preaching. A megachurch in Ohio is defiantly holding services. Our guest says they're putting the whole community in danger.

CO: Vote at your own risk. The mayor of Madison, Wisconsin says thousands of people are being forced to make a difficult decision today: stay at home and be disenfranchised by risk, or risk long lines and in-person voting.

CH: Rent out of shape. A Toronto restaurant owner says he's not expecting any rent relief. And he says the federal government needs to do much more to help if it wants small businesses like his to survive.

CO: Playing the hero. The actor, Ryan Reynolds, is throwing his weight behind a project to get protective equipment into the hands of Canada's frontline medical staff.

CH: And... started from the bottom. From the archives, an interview with an artist who works in a medium most sculptors would turn up their noses at. But since she started a business selling knick-knacks made of moose poop, she's been cleaning up.

CH: As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that falls for a pickup artist.

[Music: Theme]

Part one: Boris Johnson health, Wisconsin primary, moose poo crafts

Boris Johnson health

CO: Mr. Bridgen, how concerned are you about the health of your prime minister?

ANDREW BRIDGEN: I'm tremendously concerned. My concern grew on Friday, when he didn't come out of self-isolation, having been tested positive for the virus a week before. And he was clearly deteriorating over the week. I do fear that he delayed going into hospital so as not to overshadow the Queen's statement to the nation and the Commonwealth on Sunday evening here.

CO: That was interesting. Because the news of Mr. Johnson going to hospital was just after the Queen gave that quite ordinary speech.

AB: Yes, yes.

CO: So would that have had some effect on his health that he held off before going to hospital?

AB: I think it was a consideration. Clearly, he's been working the week that he's been self-isolating. He hasn't been resting. I myself had the virus about four weeks ago. I've never had a day off work in my life. I've never had the flu. And it knocked me off my feet for five days. And I dont have the stresses and strains that the prime minister has to carry day-to-day. I'm sure that your listeners will appreciate that being the prime minister of any country, in particular the UK, is not an easy job at the best of times, and none of us are in the best of times at the moment. This is a huge crisis.

CO: Do you think he should have backed off a bit from the work and let others pick it up? Because people said he was keeping up quite an extraordinary pace, even as he knew he had the virus.

AB: Well, we can all look back with hindsight. But it is the character of the man that is dedicated to public service. And what's really important now is that the foreign secretary, the first secretary, Dominic Raab, is deputizing for him. That he and the rest of the cabinet, indeed the whole government rally round, step up to the plate and take the pressure off the prime minister so he can concentrate on what he needs to do, which is to get better.

CO: You have key personnel at 10 Downing Street and cabinet members who are self-isolating or ill. You had it. You had the virus. How do you manage to run a country while the virus is affecting your own government?

AB: Well, there are an awful lot of civil servants in there helping. But I mean, it's going to have to be a matter of covering for different people. Obviously, the secretaries of state and the cabinet members, they have senior ministers under them who can step up. But it's less than ideal. The good news is that the government's strategy in the UK with regard to the health care, the lockdown, the support for businesses, that strategy has all been laid out in detail. So it is a matter of actually carrying through the policy. I think the worrying thing is that, and I'm delighted that the prime minister is stable, but I mean, he is in intensive care. And let's look at the stark facts so that the science says that only half of people who go into intensive care with COVID-19 actually survive.

CO: Some encouraging signs, though. He is not on a ventilator. And apparently does not have pneumonia, which would be two indications…

AB: That give a survival rate of 83 per cent.

CO: Now, I just have some questions about your policy, your government's policy, about how to deal with the virus. It's been, as you know, quite roundly criticized for being too little, too late, lacking transparency, and that the suggestion that your prime minister is yet another victim of the UK’s weak response to the virus. How do you respond?

AB: Well, we were behind the infection rates on the rest of the continent, being slightly further away from China, and obviously an island by geography. It is about bringing the right policies at the right time. We've implemented a very strong lockdown of our economy. That in itself has a cost, not only to our economy of probably something in the region of two-point-eight-billion pounds a day, but that has a knock-on effect on the health and the mental health of the rest of the population. And those considerations have to be balanced against each other, as well, the important decision of when and how to lift the lockdown and bring our economy back online. Those are huge questions.

CO: But sir, do you think you found the balance, given the numbers of people in your country who have been afflicted, including your own prime minister, that perhaps the health of the economy is taking pre-eminence over the health of your people?

AB: I don't agree with that. I think the steps taken by my government are unprecedented. I think one of the major problems we've suffered is that we've listened to data with regard to the progression of the epidemic from where it started in China, from the Chinese communist government. And quite honestly, I'll be perfectly honest, I think that the Chinese communist government have not been transparent and truthful.

CO: Right.

AB: That has affected policies that have been set around the rest of the world. And undoubtedly, I believe that's cost lives.

CO: We're talking about the policies in the U.K. And your doctors association says medical staff still lack personal protective equipment, and some doctors and nurses have been told to hold their breath to avoid getting infected. How do you respond to that?

AB: Well, that's not acceptable. But I mean, I spoke to Matt Hancock last week, and he assured me that 390-million pieces of personal protective equipment had been delivered, and more on the way. There is no health care system in the world that can easily cope with a pandemic affecting so many citizens as COVID-19. There will be a huge inquest after this is all over of how every country dealt with it. We'll all be weighed in the balance. However, we are where we are, and the government is taking the best decisions it can based on the scientific advice it's receiving at the time.

CO: All right. Mr. Bridgen, thank you.

AB: Thank you. And stay well in Canada.

CO: Goodnight.

AB: Goodnight.

CH: Andrew Bridgen is a Conservative Member of Parliament. We reached him in North West Leicestershire.

[Music: Horns!]

Wisconsin primary

Guest: Satya Rhodes-Conway

CO: We’ll just point out for people who don't know, in Wisconsin, this democratic presidential primary is being voted on. But it's also general elections for this state Supreme Court seat, as you mentioned, and there are other public offices that are being voted on. Do you have a sense of how many people may not have voted because they didn't want to go out and risk being in public, or that they didn't get the chance to get in to that mail-in vote?

SRC: You know, I don't have clear numbers, but I can give you some sense of the problem here. So just in the city of Madison, we had 87-thousand-plus absentee ballots requested. There were probably 14-hundred people who sent in a request, but failed to send in a copy of their I.D. And so we couldn't issue them a ballot. We also had some unknowable number of people who did receive an absentee ballot. But because they're isolating at home alone, were not able to get a witness for that ballot, which is required in the state. So we had dozens of people calling the clerk's office trying to figure out how to do this. There's another sort of unknowable number. As of this morning, we thought maybe we had 20-thousand absentee ballots that had not yet been returned. I expect a number of those will be returned either today at the polling places or people will mail them or people maybe will come to vote in-person instead of voting absentee. But we really don't know. And some of those folks, we mailed out ballots very late in the game. It's entirely possible that some of those ballots have not yet reached voters mailboxes. And so there's no way that they'll be able to return them on time. And so, again, who knows if that's hundreds or thousands of people that are disenfranchised.

CO: Is there any other legal action that can be taken, or anything that could perhaps throw this vote into question because of the numbers of people who may have been disenfranchised?

SRC: I think it is likely that one or more campaigns or candidates that are on the ballot are probably considering lawsuits at this point in time. And I would be surprised if we don't see more legal action. And I think that you know, it's unfortunate. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anybody from exercising their full rights, but it was just going to cause more chaos and confusion around this election than we already have.

CO: We will leave it there. Mayor Rhodes-Conway, appreciate speaking with you tonight. Thank you.

SRC: Thank you so much. It's an honour to be on your show.

CO: Thank you. Bye-bye.

SRC: Bye.

CH: Satya Rhodes-Conway is the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. That's where we reached her, earlier today.

[Music: Electronica]

Ryan Reynolds medical help

CH: Hayley Wickenheiser is a fierce competitor. But Ryan Reynolds isn't intimidated. Or he's pretending not to be. Their face-off started when Ms. Wickenheiser put out a call for donations of personal protective equipment for frontline workers. And she was willing to offer up a variety of rewards in exchange — including, quote, "maybe a signed jersey, a smile, and guaranteed good karma." Unquote. Well, after she made that plea, Mr. Reynolds skated into her mentions to sweeten the deal. Pitching in with promises of personalized videos, movie memorabilia, and even an offer to, quote, "raise your children as if they were my own — which trust me, you do NOT want." Unquote. This afternoon, Mr. Reynolds spoke with CBC Vancouver's Amy O'Brian about why he decided to join Team Wickenheiser.

[sc]

RYAN REYNOLDS: Yeah. Hayley Wickenheiser and I, we've been friends for years. I love her. I love everything she stands for inside and out. You know, for those of you that don't know who she Hayley Wickenheiser is, you. Hopefully you do! She’s one of Canada's greatest hockey players, gold medal-winning Olympian, who is now training to be a doctor. And she's just kind of one of those everyday superheroes. You know, she's one of those people that always finds… You know, is always standing up for the right thing at the right time with all of her…. Every cell in her body. So, you know, she's a born leader. So, you know, I saw what what Hayley is doing, and how hard-hit certainly Toronto-area hospitals have been by COVID-19. And I just did everything I could to amplify her message and help her. But I assure you, she's the one that's out there on the frontlines, and meeting people in an almost kind of clandestine way in parking lots in Ontario to exchange medical supplies, or important PPE equipment. And, you know, she's pretty special, so, you know, helping helping her with this goal has been incredible. But beyond that, it's the amount of medical equipment that she's managed to gather has far exceeded her initial goal.

AMY O’BRIAN: I thought the medical equipment just wasn't to be found. So it's coming out of the woodwork.

RR: Yeah, well, where there's a will, there's a way. I mean, you know, everybody’s stepping up. I'm actually gonna literally check my latest text from Hayley, which said she'd she mentioned that Rogers, Purolator, Procter & Gamble have stepped up in just, you know, huge, huge ways. The company Razer has sent 10-masks, which will be there by Thursday. I mean, Bayshore Health, something like 400-thousand masks. I mean, it's just completely overwhelming. It makes you want to cry. I mean, the way the Canadian community has circled the wagons around this issue is something that I just think is endlessly inspiring.

[/sc]

CH: Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds, speaking with CBC Vancouver's Amy O'Brian today.

CH: Maybe you're using your time in self-isolation to take up a new craft. I hear everyone's knitting now, or making sourdough bread. Whereas I'm exploring a slightly less involved hobby: stacking cans of chickpeas and knocking them over with a broom. And I didn't even know I was the crafting type! Meanwhile, I imagine Mary Winchenbach is still running her business, creating hand-crafted art from extremely raw materials. And making her money on, and from, the back end. The back end of a moose. When Carol spoke with Ms. Winchenbach a couple of years ago, she'd just quit her day job to work full-time making knick-knacks out of moose poop. So take a break from playing Mozart to your sourdough starter for a few minutes, and listen to this interview from our archives. And a mild warning: things get scatological immediately, and stay that way.

[sc]

CO: Mary, what are you doing with your moose poo today?

MARY WINCHENBACK: Well today, I'm assembling my turds because tonight, at 7:00 o'clock, I’ve got a stand-up comedy act. We've got wicked orders for the poo poo clocks, and so we've got people all over the place assembling turds for us, you know, and helping getting them ready. I'm talking to over 400 clocks.

CO: All right, so a lot of things I want to unpack here. What are poo poo clocks?

MW: Well, the poo poo clock, instead of a coo coo, it's a poo poo clock. And we put the turds in between the numbers. So it reads one-turdy, two-turdy, three-turdy. And we're working on incorporating a machine, so when it strikes that it goes [sound: a fart noise].

CO: All right, and that's a hot item right now? They’re just flying off the shelves?

MW: Absolutely, yeah.

CO: OK. What else have you got there?

MW: Well, we've got fecal people. And depending upon the shape of the middle turds right there, we can do them with big boobs, and guts, and butts, and long legs and short legs — because no two turds are alike. Yeah, we got that. And then another big item we have is the dingleberries. See we got dingleberries with bells, and we got them with balls. We got green balls, red balls and we got the blue balls. And those are good for putting on the Christmas tree because you can never have enough crap hanging off the tree. Or you put it on the rear-view mirror of vehicle, so you take a corner and you got that turd just a slinging all around the place. Not only is it a conversation piece, but I once got out of a fifty-dollar parking ticket with a five-dollar turd. I actually gave the cops some shit, and he let me go. And that's a true story.

CO: What did you give the cop?

MW: I give him a turd — a dingleberry with a blue ball. The cops love them blue balls.

CO: Okay, now where did you get the idea to turn poo into gold?

MW: Oh, I saw the turds one day you know walking in the woods. Of course, I've always seen them, but I get to thinking one day wouldn’t that be funny to add a set of eyeballs on it, you know? And you could call it like a little shithead thing. So we did that, and then the product line has just been expanding and expanding, and developing new products and stuff. And we'll sit around at night and drink a beer or something and start coming up with some stupid names for turds. And it's just funny, so we just keep going with it, you know?

CO: I understand you got your latest is forest dump?

MW: Yes, forest dump. And we're going to put a turd there with a shrimp — you know and a couple little fake trees.

CO: All right. And speaking of forests, this is where you collect your materials in the woods, right?

MW: Correct. We get them probably within a mile and a half two miles from the house. Usually, we'll get 100 to 150 pounds of turds every time we go out into the woods.

CO: How many moose do you have around your place?

MW: Well, I think there's about 12.

CO: And they're just producing like crazy for you.

MW: Well, they take a dump two or three times a day. And every time they take a crap, they’ll scrap out probably 300 to 400 turns every time. And you know we sell the turds for five dollars and up. So I guess like ching, ching. I get to jumping right up and down every time I find a pile of crap in the woods.

CO: Every time these geese these moose are out there, you're just looking at dollar signs?

MW: Absolutely. It's like we see the turds coming out of the butt, and it’s it's like five, 10, 15, 20, 25. Yeah.

CO: OK. Now, I need to scoop on moose poop here. I mean because I've seen moose poop in the woods, and it's like ploppy, soft, cow patty stuff, right? You’re not working with that are you?

MW: No, my turds look like little oval balls. We have dehydrators here at the house. So once we get that turd, we dry them all up wicked good. And then we put two different kinds of coatings on them because some people like a natural-looking turd, and some people like it when their turds glisten.

CO: And people put them on for jewelry? You said they're wearing them?

MW: Correct. Yeah, we have earrings. And we even we just get a request for some fecal people for a wedding cake topper. So we made them anatomically correct, you know? And we made the boy we used a deer turd for his dingdong, you know? And for the women's breasts and stuff like that, but we’re going to put a skirt on her and the boy will have a bow tie. And it’s going to hang over the wedding cake.

CO: Oh my gosh, this is too much! And you get these ideas just having a beer at night — you and your partner?

MW: Absolutely.

CO: Now you thought you would maybe get a few sales, but you've turned this in to a couple of full-time jobs now, right?

MW: Yeah, I mean it was just one craft fair that we did. I haven't done it for nine years because we adopted three kids and we've been busy with them. So we just did this one craft fair, and a couple people videotaped it and put it online or on YouTube or whatever. And it’s just gone nuts.

CO: How many orders are you getting?

MW: We have well over a thousand orders right now. I've been shipping out probably at least 200 packages every day, every other day. And we are still way behind. I mean right now I owe people that have ordered over 400 of the poo poo clocks. And so I have a woman right now that will have those completed hopefully by the end of this weekend, so we can ship those turds out on Monday.

CO: So instead of Santa’s Workshop, you have Santa’s Turdshop?

MW: Exactly, that's a good one.

CO: Now It’s yours. I'll give that one to you. But you're not going to run out of supply, right? Those moose are going to keep producing for you?

MW: Exactly. And another thing too is one day we went to the Gray Wild Animal Park here in Maine. The moose are in captivity, and course, are nervous. And all the turds come out looking like them chocolate kisses, so we call them pieces of feces. Instead of a popsicle, we get a popsicle, otherwise known as a high-fiber fudgesicle — that’s like crap. Oh, one of our newest products is we get these little wooden stools, and we put a turd on it so it’s a stool sample. Wouldn't that be good to take that to the doctor, right?

CO: Oh my gosh! Listen, so if people come up to you and they say cut the crap. What do you say?

MW: I don't know what to say?

CO: You should say never. You're never going to cut the crap. The crap is working for you.

MW: Everyone can relate to a turd because everybody does it, you know? And has had experiences you know with dingleberries or whatever. And so yeah, everyone can relate to it.

CO: Well Mary, congratulations with your business. And I’ll let you get back to your shop. Thanks for talking to us.

MW: Thank you. If you need anything, remember I ship shit everywhere. And my motto is everyone should give a shit for Christmas. Sorry.

CO: That’s okay. I love it. Take care, Marry. Bye.

MY: Okay. Bye-bye.

[/sc]

CH: From our archives, that's Carol speaking with Mary Winchenbach, co-owner of the moose-poop art business Tirdy Works, in Somerville, Maine. That first aired on October 19th, 2018.

[Music: Elevator music]

Part two: Church-goers, struggling restaurants

Church-goers

Guest: Todd Porter

CH: On the holiest day in the Christian calendar, churches around the world will sit empty. Well, most of them will be empty. Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, has vowed to keep its doors wide open for Easter weekend. This past Palm Sunday, a CNN reporter spotted at least 75 people entering the Pentecostal church. As they were leaving, the reporter asked one congregant why she made the trip.

[sc]

CONGREGANT:I wouldn't be anywhere else.

REPORTER: Aren't you concerned you could infect other people if you get sick inside?

C: No.

R: People who don’t go to this church.

C: No, I'm covered in Jesus’ blood. I'm covered in Jesus’ blood.

R: What about other people who don't go to this church who you might encounter?

C: [getting annoyed] All of these people go to this church!

R: But you're going to be in places where other people…

C: [raising voice] I go to the grocery store every day, I’m in Walmart, Home Depot with those people.

R: But you could get them sick from what happens at the church.

C: They could get sick, but they're not because I'm covered in his blood! Thank you very much.

[/sc]

CH: Todd Porter is a pastor at a different Ohio church, and lives a few kilometres away from Solid Rock Church. We reached him in Monroe, Ohio.

CO: Pastor Todd, we just heard that clip of a woman leaving her church on Palm Sunday. She says she's covered in the blood of Jesus, and that will protect her. What do you make of what she's had to say?

TODD PORTER: I mean, there's truth in what she says. But God also tells us to be wise, you know, and to not, you know, intentionally do things that would harm ourselves. And, you know, I mean, yes, God can heal us. And, you know, I mean, that's the whole purpose of why Jesus came to Earth was to heal us of our sins, you know? But it's misconstrued their concept of what it is. God gives us wisdom. We shouldn't be doing those kind of things. I mean, we should be practicing safety. I mean like me and my church, we're meeting online. We are keeping our social distance and trying to be safe so that we don't spread this virus.

CO: Where might she be getting these ideas? What's being preached in the churches where they're allowing these large and very crowded assemblies to take place?

TP: I grew up in a charismatic Pentecostal church, which is what Solid Rock is. And I've never attended one of their services. But I have friends that do attend there. And I'm familiar with their theology and doctrine and that. And there is a belief that you know, no harm can befall them if, you know, you're covered and the blood of Jesus. And, I mean, that's almost to the point of saying that I'll never die because, you know, I'll never catch anything. But that happens. And so I think there's verses of the Bible that have been taken... And all churches do this. We take something and we kind of bank ourselves on it. And, you know, the goal is to try to have balance. And I think there's an overbalance or an off-balance really on that.

CO: So you have, in your own church, you are not holding services, and people are not congregating, you’re having services online, is that right?

TP: That is correct. Yeah, we are, you know, encouraged to stay home, you know? So that way you're keeping your distance. You know, the music and everything is online.

CO: Now, the Solid Rock Church, and also in your community that's having these services, they say that they have very strict rules. They are keeping people six feet apart. They have sanitation stations. They have hand sanitizer. They don't allow handshaking or hugging. Do you think that those steps are good enough?

TP: Well, in the clip that you played from CNN, there's another portion of it where they video people walking into the service. And, you know, I mean, there's a greeter at the door that’s shaking hands and hugging people. And so it's not happening at the front end. My guess is, I mean, we don't know, my guess is that doesn’t happen on the back end. I have watched videos recently, and they had a choir on stage. And the choir is not practicing social distance. The stage is quite crowded. So, I mean, if it's not being done from the stage, I'm going to guess that it's not happening in the auditorium as well. But again, I don't know for sure, ‘cause, you know, I’m not there.

CO: The state of Ohio is among about 14 states that have exempted religious gathering from their stay at home orders. They are saying that people can still have these gatherings. And they tend to be in states where there have been significant outbreaks of the virus. And so what's behind that? What's behind the decision, do you think, that the governors have decided that that should be the case?

TP: Well, I mean, in the United States, we have our First Amendment rights. You know, the right to assemble, the right to free speech, the right to freedom of religion. And so I think there's a fear on the part of governors, to some degree it’s right, that you're going to set off a constitutional crisis if you say churches can't meet, because then they're going to say you're violating our First Amendment rights. But there's also exceptions to that. Because like freedom of speech, for example, if you yell fire in a crowded theatre, it is a punishable offence because you're inducing panic in a crowd. So I think in cases where there’s public health crisis, there's exemptions to it. I just think that those governors, and I totally respect, Mike DeWine for being cautious in this. I mean, I went on Twitter and said to Mike DeWine that I believe he needs to because of what Solid Rock is doing. They’re in my community. These are people I see in the grocery stores or the hardware stores. You know, when I occasionally have to go for needed supplies, and it scares me. Quite honestly, I jokingly said that friend I want to Make up a GoFundMe and buy them all T-shirts that they wear out in public so I know who they so I can avoid them.

CO: And how did the governor respond to that? Because you're saying that you have rights, too. And the rights are that these people are going to the gatherings, going to church services, and then they're out shopping as the woman in the clip just said. So what did the governor say in response to your concerns?

TP: Unfortunately, he did not reply to my tweet. I didn't expect him to. But, yeah, I wish he would have responded to that. Or I know other people have asked for it. And the mayor of Monroe actually sent a letter to Solid Rock asking them to, you know, stop holding services. And, you know, they're saying they're practicing all the safety things that are necessary.

CO: You also have a situation, I guess, that the president of your country had suggested that early on it was a hoax, the virus. Has downplayed its significance. At one point, called it, “kind of like the flu”, which we're hearing from other religious leaders saying that it's not really a big deal, or it's a conspiracy or a hoax. What effect has it had that someone at the very, very top is saying those things? What effect does that have on these decisions?

TP: Personally, I believe it had a great effect. Because it seems to be the circle of people that he has around him of religious leaders tend to be from more of the charismatic Pentecostal persuasion. And they, you know, then they seem to be the ones that are kind of in that same type of a mindset of it. I see it amongst some of my friends and that. And it's disappointing that our president didn't give us better leadership with this early on.

CO: Well, Pastor Todd. We'll leave it there. I hope that you are able to have a happy Easter. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

TP: Thanks. You have a great Easter as well.

CO: Bye-bye.

TP: Bye.

CH: Todd Porter is a pastor at the non-denominational River Church in Ohio. We reached him in Monroe, Ohio — where a nearby Pentecostal church has vowed to remain open for Easter weekend. You can find more on that story on the As It Happens website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

Ottawa bankruptcy

[sc]

ROBYN BRESNAHAN: How concerned are you that the city is losing a million dollars a day right now?

JIM WATSON: Well, I'm very concerned because as you know, Robyn, unlike other levels of government, we're not allowed by law to run a deficit. So we're gonna have to find a combination of reserve funds and expenditure reductions over the course of the next couple of months. Because we have to, first of all, leave the year in the black. And secondly, we have to start our own budget process for 2021 in the fall of this year. So I don't want to overstate or overreact, but this is going to be probably the most difficult budget that any of us have ever tackled. Because there are so many unknowns. We still don't even know if we'll be in this state of emergency in the fall this year. So there's a lot of unknowns, which makes it very difficult for us to budget. But we've already started discussions. Every Sunday, for instance, we have a conference call with the big city mayors caucus. And we usually have the deputy prime minister on the phone call. Last week was Catherine McKenna. And they have certainly been very empathetic, and sympathetic to our plea that we're going to need some help because they have greater financial capacity to help us. And we haven't landed on anything, obviously, at this point. But they've been great partners to keep us informed. And we're going to have to rely on them because we're the ones, as you know, providing all of these frontline services. And we don't have the revenue stream to continuously sustain them.

RB: Right.

JM: And with the province as well. You know, they're both very... Listen, we're all in this together. And we recognize, you know, some people will be listening, well, this one government to another. But we have a very limited capacity, as you know, through property taxes to fund a lot of programs. So we're grateful, for instance, that the feds have provided us and the province provided us additional funding for the most vulnerable community by allowing us to open the community centre as an assessment centre for the homeless. And those kinds of funds that have been coming in have been put to good use.

[/sc]

CH: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson speaking with Robyn Bresnahan today, about his city losing a million dollars a day in revenue during the pandemic.

Struggling restaurants

Guests: John Ciampini

CH: Some neighbourhoods in Marin County, California, are bringing a whole new meaning to the Bay Area. People around the world continue to throw open their windows and doors each night at eight and make a whole lot of noise. They cheer. They bang pots and pans. They applaud — in a show of solidarity and appreciation for those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight. But the folks in Mill Valley, California, have added their own twist. And frankly, things there have gotten pretty wild.

[Sound: A strong chorus of people howling]

CH: A chorus of human howls rings out each night soon after the sun has set. Residents say it's a nod to coyotes in the area — but also a much-needed reminder that we too are social animals.

CH: Anyone who's ever waited in line or watched the sun set knows time is relative. But when it comes to Ying Ying and Le Le, I think we can all agree — 13 years is a pretty long dry spell. The two panda bears first shacked up at a Hong Kong zoo in 2007. And since then, there have been multiple unsuccessful attempts to get them to mate naturally. Pandas have notoriously low libidos, and their mating season lasts for just a few days a year. Well, turns out the key factor to their coupling might just be some privacy. When the park shut its doors to slow the spread of COVID-19, it left the lovebirds to practice some physical un-distancing. It will be months before we know whether the romp was fruitful. Meantime, here's something you thought you'd never hear: the relatively short — or long — sounds of Ying Ying and Le Le in action:

[sc]

[Sound: And I thought I would never have to describe the sounds of panda sex, but here we are. So, I guess it sounds like loud, cheerful buzzes.]

[/sc]

CH: Recorded yesterday at Hong Kong's Ocean Park — pandas Ying Ying and Le Le mating naturally for the first time.

[Music: Smooth jazz]

FOA: Pat Capponi obit

CH: If Pat Capponi had been a character in one of her own novels, she'd have fit right in. Which is to say, Ms. Capponi's characters were a lot like her. Her detective novels star Dana Leoni, a private investigator who's seen her fair share of trauma — and who lives among people who've seen even more. And to a certain extent, Ms. Capponi was writing from life: she struggled with mental health issues her whole life. And those experiences propelled her to advocacy -- on behalf of the poor and mentally ill. Pat Capponi died yesterday. She was 70 years old. In 1991, Ms. Capponi appeared on As It Happens. She spoke with guest host Ann Medina about her mental health struggles — and about how the drugs prescribed to treat them were sometimes worse to deal with.

[sc]

PAT CAPPONI: Well, you stop knowing whether it's your own thought processes. Whether what's going on with you is this mental illness thing, or simply that you can't really think because of the medication. You can't differentiate anymore in terms of what's happening to you. Whether it's pathological, or simply side effects of the medication. For myself, I became I guess it's like, you know, you're in a slow motion movie that keeps slowing down. [AM chuckles] It becomes this sort of terminal sluggishness. But it's also inside your head, right?

ANN MEDINA: Right.

PC: So that you're unable to form thoughts. You're unable to think clearly, you're unable to address any of the issues that sent you off in the first place. right? They talk about flatness of affect is one of the symptoms of mental illness, but it's literally one of the symptoms of being on medication. So that if you met somebody who was on a lot of medication, you'd wonder if they can react to anything at any time.

AM: Taking these drugs, did it make a difference? Did it alleviate your symptoms, whatever they were? Did it make a difference in your depression?

PC: It's interesting, you know, when they were doing lobotomies, I'm sure it made a difference for people, right? The lobotomies made a difference for people. But is that the kind of difference that we're looking for? So that when I was on medication, in the short term, in the short term, I quite likely had appreciated it. Because it does reduce fear state, which can be really quite amazing. In the long term, though, what it did was to reduce my self-confidence to zero, to say this is who I am. I'm never going to get better. I'm never going to be able to feel differently. I'm never going to be able to get my life back on track. The people I would go to, vocational counsellors, therapists, would see me in this medicated state, and reinforce this by saying I was unable to work anymore. I was unable especially to work with people, which was too stressful for me, so that my medicated state became the state that people judge me on.

AM: How did you get out? You're now working with ex-psychiatric patients. You've been working them for many years.

PC: Yes.

AM: How did you get free of your illness?

PC: Not that I'm not free of the illness. I'm not free of the illness. I have a chronic illness. I think what I got free of was looking, this sounds silly, maybe, but was looking for the cure.

[/sc]

CH: Pat Capponi was a mental health and anti-poverty activist — and an author. She died this week. She was 70 years old.

[Music: Lullaby]

Mississippi meals delivered

Guest: James Henderson

JAMES HENDERSON: Oh, my goodness, yes. Breakfast and lunch for three-thousand kids. And it went well today, even though it was a raining day, all of the foodservice workers showed up. did what they had to do, and all of the transportation department showed up and delivered food, or breakfast this morning, to all of those babies out there.

CO: Normally, they’d be getting those meals in school, right? And they're not in school now.

JH: That is correct. That is correct. But in addition to those kids, our kids, getting those meals, we're feeding their younger siblings as well. Even if they're in Head Start, they get the opportunity to get the meals as well.

CO: What are the drivers telling you about how those families, those kids, reacted when that food arrived?

JH: Actually, they're telling me that the kids are running out to the buses. And not only are they telling me that kids are running out to the buses, but parents also go out and get the meals. But parents are calling me as the superintendent of schools here at Holmes County to inform me that the bus did not show up today, or they missed the bus. And those cases or instances, if they miss the bus, then you have someone at the school. And hopefully, they could go and pick up those meals. And then sometimes we actually will turn around if we're not too far and take meals back.

CO: Now, you're on the ground with the staff, helping to prepare the meals.

JH: Absolutely.

CO: Why did you decide to roll up your sleeves?

JH: Because I have to lead by example. I'm asking them to come in during this pandemic. I must be right there with them, you know, on the line, helping to assist them to get the food ready and get them out.

CO: What does it mean to kids in your county to get that food? How insecure is their food, their intake in their homes?

JH: Now, that's a different story. You know, the Centre for Disease Control called it a food desert. And it's really an oxymoron to call the Delta a food desert. And a food desert are those areas that lack access to affordable fruits and vegetables and whole grains and low-fat milk and all those other foods that help make up a full range of a healthy diet. And here we are in the delta of Mississippi, where we grow all of these things. And the oxymoron is, unfortunately, they're not as accessible to us as we would like. We only have two grocery stores in the area. And since this pandemic, we have seen gouging. White bread, a loaf of bread, five dollars. Eggs, seven dollars for eggs. So the price gouging is real here in Holmes County, which happens to be the poorest county in the poorest state of these great United States of America. And I say shame on us.

CO: But you're telling me, sir, that these two grocery stores — the only two ones for 18,000 people who depend on that — they're actually jacking up the prices, and trying to squeeze as much money out of people who can hardly afford to pay for them even in the best of times?

JH: That’s exactly so. And I know that to be true because I actually went in myself, and saw it for myself with my own eyes. And that's unfortunate, but that is what's happening in this pandemic.

CO: How much more difficult is it for these families to try and manage during this pandemic? Many of them don't have cars, they don’t have ways to get around.

JH: Let me say to you, that was the impetus for having the buses to drop the meals off. Because half of the parents do not have transportation, and then those who do, worked at one of the Nissan factories, which is approximately 40 minutes away, they have laid off or shut down during this pandemic. So it is a grave need to ensure that we are feeding our kids every day. Now, there are school systems or school districts around the area who have cut back from five days a week to three days a week. We can't afford to do that because, again, we’re the poorest county in the poor state. And if we are not doing this, some of our kids will not eat.

CO: Is it the case, then, that a lot of kids, especially on the weekends, go to bed hungry in your county?

JH: I'm sure that it's happening. But just recently, while there are no food banks here in this area, there are a few people just working together, trying to make sure those families whom we have identified do have food on the weekends. So we're doing what we need to do in this Bible Belt community to ensure that our neighbour is taken care of.

CO: Given that you need a lot of resources to keep this going, how long can you continue the food programs that you're running?

JH: Well, because it's a federal government program, fortunately, we're going to run this program through June 30th. So we will be doing what we need to do to serve the children of Holmes County, Mississippi.

CO: Mr. Henderson, I truly appreciate the work you're doing, and I thank you for telling us about it.

JH: Thank you all so very much.

CO: Bye-bye.

JH: Bye-bye.

CH: James Henderson is the superintendent of the Holmes County Consolidated School District. He was in Lexington, Mississippi. And you can see more on that story at: www.cbc.ca/aih

[Music: hip-hop]

Captain Brett Crozier

[Sound: A thunderous chorus of cheers and applause. Many cheer, “Captain Crozier’, and calp in tune.]

[Music: Indie rock]

Unplugged triathlon

Guest: Rinny Carfrae

CO: Okay, so what was your husband trying to do to help you before things happened?

RC: [continuing to chuckle] So my husband, he came up into our living room and grabbed a couple of my world championship trophies. And I guess he thought that they would be good motivation. I think he was just trying to be funny and lighten the mood a little bit, I guess. And so he came down into the training room with these big trophies and kind of was sort of standing in front of the camera so that the Facebook feed could see him. And I said, go around the back, which I guess is kind of my fault, so they can see you because they couldn’t really see him there. So he walks around the back. And when he came back, he kicked out the cord. [chuckling] So that’s how my race was effectively ended.

CO: [holding her voice for effect] Oh no! Now, describe how this works? How would that have ended your race?

RC: Yeah, so it ended the race because the platform that I was on, if you disconnect your device — so in my case, the trainer from the race — then it kicks you out of the race. And so we eventually figured out what was wrong. Initially, I didn't realize he had kicked it out. I thought something else had gone wrong, and so was sort of troubleshooting what had gone wrong. And then we realized that the cable was unplugged. And then we realised that he had kicked it out, which we got a good laugh out of.

CO: Right.

RC: But yeah, we plugged it back in, but it put me back at the start of the race instead of back where I was. So, yeah.

CO: This is a supperhour program, and it's a family show. But can you tell us what you said to your husband? [both chuckling] What words you might have used at that point?

RC: Well, initially, as I said, I thought it was my fault. I thought maybe I'd hopped out of the saddle and like, wiggled the trainer forward and pulled it out or something. But then as we were talking it through, I realized he had kicked it. And I'm like it's your fault. You did it. And he straight away was like it was totally my fault. I kicked the cable out. And then when I got the announcers attention to explain what happened, I said, what an idiot [both chuckle]. They were my words that came out without the filter on. So, yeah, I mean, mostly, obviously, this was a great opportunity for us to get out and compete, and, you know, have a bit of fun with it. But honestly, it was more about just connecting with community than racing. So, you know, more important things in the world than this. But, yeah, for a few minutes, I was a little mad. But then, you know, this is life, and these things happen. And he did not mean to do it.

CO: Your husband is very lucky to have such an understanding wife, I would say.

RC: [chuckling] Yeah, I mean, he also is a professional athlete. So he actually doing another race this Sunday. So he knows exactly, you know, what I was doing and what, you know, he felt bad enough himself without me piling on the guilt.

CO: Exactly. Now, how does this Ironman race actually work as a virtual race?

RC: Yeah, so this was the first time that triathlon or Ironman had ever rolled out an event like this. And basically, for this particular event, it was a 5K run, which could be done at any time over the 48-hour window that they kind of opened the racing opportunity up. And you just uploaded that with your Garmin or whatever smartwatch. And you hop on the trainer, and via this platform, you can race the course, the bike course, that they set out. In this case, it was actually the Boulder 70.3, so a local one for me. So definitely knew those roads very well. And then that uploads to the platform. And then there was also a 21-kilometre run, which I did the next morning. So a half-marathon run the next morning. And I just uploaded that with my Garmin. And for this particular race, the bike portion was the more competitive, I guess. And what they streamed on Facebook Watch. But the two other runs were just done sort of in your own time, and you just had to upload and make sure you completed the task. And this was open to amateurs for free as well in the Ironman community. So, again, just a really nice way to connect with our community.

CO: Well, what reactions did you get on Facebook when you got unplugged?

RC: [laughing] Basically, people just thought it was hilarious. Yeah, I think it resonated well with a lot of people now working at home with their spouses. And you're dealing with this new reality of, you know, trying to get work done while you have, you know, family, kids, husbands around. Honestly, I thought it was pretty great, a pretty great reaction from around the world, I must say. I had a call with a radio show in Australia the next morning, which is actually where I'm from.

CO: And your husband is competing in a similar race this weekend?

RC: Yes. So he's doing a shorter one. Slacker, he's only doing a 40-kilometre bike. But that's the format they’ve picked for this weekend. So I think he's got a 3k run, and then a 40-kilometre bike, which will be on Facebook. And then I believe he'll be doing a 10K run as well. So yeah, like pretty much half the distance of what I did.

CO: Should he be at all concerned about possibly getting unplugged?

RC: [chuckling] Yeah, I know. Well, I definitely will not unplug his. I think, yeah, if I did that, you know, it’d clearly be on purpose. [CO chuckles] But no, I think I need to come up with some… If you guys can help me come up with some way, some good way, to get him back, that would be great.

CO: All right. Well, we'll put that to our listeners, and see if they have any ideas. Rinny, it's great to talk with you. Thank you.

RC: Thank you so much.

CO: Bye-bye.

RC: Bye-bye.

CH: Rinny Carfrae is an Ironman world champion. We reached her in Boulder, Colorado. And you can find photos and a link to the video on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih. Now, triathletes aren't the only ones putting the finish line online. This past weekend's NASCAR race was a lot like any other: heart-pumping speed; a heady mix of aggressive driving and aggressive branding; and the ever-present threat of a crash. Except that none of the drivers were actually moving.

[sc]

[The loud hum of engines, and the play-by-play call of a NASCAR race.]

[/sc]

CH: Since NASCAR suspended its real-life races, drivers are competing online in startlingly lifelike online races. And while their bodies are at home — helmetless, and, it would seem, often barefoot — their hearts and minds are as in it as ever. In some cases, maybe even more so. Sunday, after an early wreck, driver Bubba Wallace quit the race after an unsportsmanlike tantrum — which led him to suffer the real-life consequence of losing sponsors. Still, Bubba's booboo aside, this may be one sport that should consider staying virtual, post-pandemic. One of the drivers says the crashes are a whole lot less painful.

[Music: World music]

E. Margaret Burbidge obit

see much of the sky." She went on to launch a stellar career in astrophysics. She did groundbreaking research into the composition of stars, and helped design instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. But before she could do any of that, she had a few roadblocks to contend with here on her home planet: during the Second World War, she managed to get a job at a London observatory that was normally reserved for men. That, and the wartime blackouts, afforded her a chance to conduct her own research and launch her career. Dr. Burbidge died on Sunday. She was 100 years old. Here she is giving a lecture not all that long ago about research she did with her husband, the astronomer Geoffrey Burbidge, in the 1950s.

FOA: Harold Ballard

CH: To fans across Canada, hockey legends are immortal. To toy fans, Lego is in the same category. So it makes sense that the blocks would be used to depict the lives of two of the most colourful names in the good, old game. At least it makes sense to Joel Cadieux. As we told you last June, the Red Deer, Alberta man opted to use Lego in a way very few children use it -- to depict scenes from the life of former Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard. Now, like the rest of us, Mr. Cadieux finds himself with time on his hands. So he's telling the story of former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington. With Lego. So far, the tale charts Mr. Pocklington's early years and his acquisition of the team. Still to come — the Stanley Cup glory days and the Gretzky trade. From last June, here's part of Joel Cadieux's conversation with Carol, about rendering Harold Ballard as a miniature block head.

CO: You have 100 of these little scenes created with Lego, and depicting all the different aspects of it just and extraordinary and cartoonish life of Harold Ballard. Why did you want to do it this way?

JC: I was inspired there's somebody else who has done it in the past, and has told stories that way through you know they've done the French Revolution, the American Revolution, they've done the Bible, and they've always told them through using Lego bricks to create, like you said, an almost cartoonish reality of the stories. And yeah, I just fascinated me. I love building Lego, and I just think it's a great way to tell the story, and I guess the Canadian part of me that loves hockey wanted to tell a story of the owner that did almost unbelievable things. And I think when you play them out with Lego men, it just gives it a humorous twist on what was just a crazy story.

CO: You know, I was a bit concerned when I first heard that you had done this. And I thought oh gosh, he's just turned this into fun, a joke, because well Harold Ballard was mean, wasn't he? But when I saw the little scenes you made, you don't pull any punches quite literally, do you?

JC: Yeah, I mean one of my fears was when doing this so that somebody would think I'm promoting some of things Harold did, which was not the case at all. I just wanted to tell the story, and let people make up their own minds, which I'm hopeful that most people see it and are as shocked as they should be.

CO: So what are some of your favourite ones?

JC: Definitely one of the ones that just happened a few days ago was the Lanny McDonald. It really resonated with lot of people. It was one of the most popular ones where Punch Imlach came in and told him that he was traded because they couldn't trade Sitler. So out of spite, they traded his best friend, Lanny. And also, the Beatles one was a lot of fun. When the Beatles came to Maple Leaf Gardens and played a show that ended up turning into two shows because Harold went and sold two shows and failed to tell the Beatles that he had sold two shows.

CO: You did such a great job of. Because he turned off the air conditioning to save money; he was just so stingy. And there was no water to drink so he could sell more drinks. And you have these little Lego figures, little women passed out from the heat. So there's that one, and then some of the ones that you show about how he treated the players themselves because he was pretty cruel to them too, wasn't he?

JC: Yeah, he almost had a cattle mentality of players. And you know when the Players’ Association came out, that kind of gave rights to players, and tried to differentiate them from just numbers and cattle-like mentality of the owners. And Harold really fought that, and you know didn't care if it was Davey Keon who was you know beloved by everybody, and/or Sittler, Mahovlich, if they took a stand that they had rights, he didn't like it. He thought he deserved all the money, and the players were just there to get him his money. So it was a depressing way to look at life, but that's the way Harold saw it.

CO: And then, of course, because he was so sexist — we heard that in what he was saying to Barbara Frum about women being on their backs is the best thing. But he barred female sportswriters from covering the games. Women turned out in droves to protest outside Maple Leaf Gardens. You did a diorama of that. What do you think people will… because there's people who perhaps don't know Harold Ballard who will watch. What impression will this leave them about the man?

JC: Well, I mean if I think of my kids, who have grown up in a completely different world. And it almost seems like fiction to them. So I think if you didn't grow up in that world, I think people that grew up and they're like my parents age that were around when Harold was running the team, you know they look back on it. Some people probably have horrible memories. And I think some of the newer people think it's probably fiction. They probably think I'm making up half the stories that are told in here because it's almost unbelievable.

CO: Now, you said elsewhere that you were inspired to look at Harold Ballard because your mom blamed him for the Leafs doing so badly because she always told you that when you were a kid. What did your mom think when she saw them?

JC: It was just last week where I showed her the finished product. She hadn't seen it yet. Yeah, she had a good laugh. But I think she was also some PTSD was coming back, and she was reminded of the horrible times that the Leafs had to go through growing up her whole life.

CO: Well, it brought it back for me too, so I identify with her. Joel, it's great fun, and I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

JC: Thanks for having me.

CO: Bye.

[/sc]

CH: That was Joel Cadieux speaking to Carol last June. You can follow his new Lego story of Peter Pocklington on Twitter. We'll post a link on our account: @cbcasithappens.

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April 07, 2020 Episode Transcript

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