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The AIH Transcript for August 26, 2022

SUSAN BONNER: Hello. I'm Susan Bonner.

TALIA SCHLANGER: Good evening. I'm Talia Schlanger, sitting in for Chris Howden. And this is As It Happens.

[Theme]

Prologue

TS: Tonight:

SB: Last resort. After the U.S. Justice Department publishes parts of the affidavit that led to the search of Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago home and hotel, a former federal prosecutor reads between the redactions.

TS: Burnout notice. As the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses raises the alarm over severely understaffed emergency rooms, we speak with one new nurse who is already feeling burnt out after working nearly 300 hours in a single month.

SB: Unwanted attention. A virtual parliament faces real-world pressure... as Hong Kong officials put a Canadian pro-democracy activist on their wanted list.

TS: Breaking out in a sweat…er. A U.K. daycare owner says she was shocked at the news that energy prices will jump a further 80 per cent this fall -- forcing her to turn down the heat and ask the kids to layer up.

SB: Not as green as he is cabbage-looking. A St John's man shares his technique for growing an unbe-leaf-ably large head of cabbage.

TS: And... Blade Ruiner. One Swedish island tries to turn that brown upside down with a contest that rewards the area's driest, ugliest most uninviting yard-- in hopes of turning water conservation into a badge of honour.

TS: As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that thinks initiatives like these are a lawn time coming.

Part 1: Mar-A-Lago Affidavit, Victor Ho, U.K. Daycare Heating

Mar-A-Lago Affidavit

Guest: Gene Rossi

CH: Donald Trump insists he isn't worried about the affidavit that led to the search of his Mar-a-Lago residence. The U.S. Justice Department released a heavily redacted version of the document today. The former U.S. President was quick to dismiss it as a, quote, "total public relations subterfuge." Unquote. But the affidavit contains allegations about the mishandling of some of the United States most sensitive secrets. And that had some Democrats warning about damage to the security of the country. Gene Rossi is a former U.S. federal prosecutor and a former Democratic Candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

SB: Mr. Rossi, what do these documents tell you about the investigation that is underway around the former president, Donald Trump?

GENE ROSSI: It tells me, as a former federal prosecutor, that this investigation has gone to a very high level. To get a search warrant against the president of the United States' home -- former president -- is a monumental ask on the part of the Justice Department. And they went through an incredibly meticulous process to develop probable cause for the following. When President Trump left office -- left the White House -- he committed at least two crimes, arguably by the Department of Justice affidavit. One, he violated the Records Act. Number two, he violated the Espionage Act when he left. Because why? He wilfully and knowingly -- allegedly -- took documents that were top secret SCI. That is the gold standard of classified documents. They should never leave a secure facility. He brought them to his summer home, if you will, and kept them in an unsecured location. That is a violation of the law. Period. End of story.

SB: He does not dispute that he had the documents. Clearly, the box loads of them have been taken out on two separate occasions, once with the search warrant and… and 15 boxes before that. So that is not in doubt. But the former president says, I didn't do anything wrong because I declassified these documents before I left office. [GR chuckles innocuously] What is your response to that?

GR: My response to this is if you're a drug dealer and you're caught with five kilos of cocaine, you're going to say, yes, I possess them, but I didn't have the intent to distribute it. Donald Trump has to admit he possessed them, and it wasn't by mistake. The whole issue was intent. Did he wilfully with intent violate the laws regarding protecting documents, records production… Records Act and the Espionage Act? His intent is disproven because his own legal counsel and other individuals said, you cannot do this. You cannot take top secret documents willy-nilly out of the White House when you leave. And if you do, you have to keep… keep it in a secured facility, which he did not.

SB: Now --

GR: So, the argument that he declassified by waving a magic wand. That's not an argument that's ever been used in court successfully.

SB: In this affidavit, the Department of Justice makes the case that… that they have probable cause that these documents will be found. And they also say they will find evidence of obstruction. What is the significance of that?

GR: What prosecutors love -- and what I used to love -- is when a potential defendant -- potential -- obstructs, hinders, impedes, alters, conceals, destroys evidence that is the subject of the investigation. In other words, the obstruction becomes a separate crime in itself. And when it's added to substantive crimes, that is a prosecutor's dream.

SB: And the affidavit and also the memorandum of law that was also released today warns about the danger of providing too much information on what they refer to as a roadmap for their investigation. And how concerned are you that today's release might undermine this investigation?

GR: I'm very concerned, and I'll tell you why. Before someone is charged, indicted. It is extremely rare. I've never seen it where an affidavit of this ilk is unsealed. Usually, after someone is charged and awaiting trial, it is unsealed because the defendant is entitled to this under federal discovery rules. But before someone is charged… and last I looked, President Trump has not been charged yet. It's extremely rare. And the reason is this: it does have the potential effect of hindering investigations, impeding investigations. And even though names are redacted, people can kind of figure out from inferences who's cooperating and when. And it could lead to witness intimidation.

SB: Can I ask you, as you read through this document, did you see anything to suggest a motive?

GR: In the document itself, not really. Because everything's redacted. But I can speculate. There's only one reason I can think of for why President Trump was so intent on taking these documents wilfully and intentionally. He didn't do it by mistake. And that's that he wanted to share this somehow for some potential benefit, either financial, political or whatever. There's no reason… there is no reason for him to have these documents other than for nefarious purposes.

SB: And how concerned do you believe the former president should be after seeing this document?

GR: I think the amount of perspiration on his brow is probably increasing each week. I didn't think he'd be indicted for the first impeachment trial. It's a… it's… the jury's still out on whether January 6th will lead to trial, whether Atlanta. This one is at another level. This is at another level. I predict there is probably a 60 per cent chance, maybe 70, that by May of next year, he will be facing charges involving this search warrant.

SB: Mr. Rossi, thank you for your time today.

GR: Susan, thank you.

CH: Gene Rossi is a former U.S. federal prosecutor and a former Democratic Candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

[hip-hop beat]

Victor Ho

Guest: Victor Ho

TS: Earlier this summer, pro-democracy activists announced they were on the way to creating an unofficial, virtual parliament for Hong Kong -- with voters online around the world choosing their representatives democratically. The activists say their aim is to highlight the lack of real representation after sweeping electoral changes in Hong Kong. But inside Hong Kong, authorities are treating the move as a real threat, with an investigation underway for breaking national security laws. Canadian journalist and former newspaper editor Victor Ho is one of three organizers named in the investigation. We reached him in Richmond, British Columbia.

SB: Victor Ho. The Hong Kong Security Bureau issued a statement saying it would, quote, spare no efforts in pursuing your case. These are charges that carry a sentence of 10 years to life if convicted in Hong Kong. Does that worry you?

VICTOR HO: Not so much, because I'm a Canadian and now living in Canada. I don't think the Hong Kong law has any status here. As a Canadian, I'm doing nothing wrong in the laws of the country. So, that… that action or that statement by the Security Bureau, I think it would be rather a symbolic message than a real threat to me.

SB: I understand that you feel safe in Canada. How would you feel travelling to a country that has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong?

VH: Oh, I will check beforehand if there are any extradition treaty with China-Hong Kong. If this is the case, I will avoid to… you know, to land in this country.

SB: You call it symbolic. What is the message that you believe these officials are trying to send to you and to others who support the idea of this virtual Hong Kong Parliament?

VH: My personal opinion is that the kind of message they just delivered in Hong Kong -- or diaspora around the world -- that they should not get into any contact with those people involving Hong Kong parliament and try to stop them to vote for the proposed Hong Kong Parliament election. I think this is a kind of a warning to those people to evolve in the things of Hong Kong Parliament.

SB: Well, what about your reaction? Will these threats have any impact on your plans to… to pursue this virtual parliament?

VH: No, I don't think they could stop our scheduled plan to organize… to organizing these election preparations. Actually, we have over a dozen people involved in the organizing committee right now from North America, from Australia, from U.K. and more people are coming. And we have to select very carefully the new members.

SB: You have to select them carefully. Why is that? What are you worried about?

VH: Oh, that is a fact of life since the CCP will infiltrate. They have very skilful tactics to penetrate any organization overseas, no matter from Hong Kong or from mainland China immigrants.

SB: What do you hope to achieve with this plan? With this parliament?

VH: Oh, we try to make it a symbolic vote for Hong Kong people in Hong Kong proper or Hong Kong… Hong Kong people in the… I mean the diaspora community to make sure they could actually exercise their direct election power to vote their real member of Parliament. We think the Legislative Council now in Hong Kong is a force… a force direct election product because the CCP control everything since they changed the election system in Hong Kong just in the last year. There is no real universal suffrage in Hong Kong. We try to materialize this and let them choose their real legislative representative.

SB: Have you heard from Canadian government officials since the Hong Kong Security Bureau has been speaking out against you and condemning your actions?

VH: Yeah, there… there are at least two departments in federal level involved in this issue. I mean, they sent the officer. At least one or two CSIS officers came to my… my doorstep last Wednesday. And then, the officer in our foreign…. foreign ministry, they had a China desk officer get into contact with me via social media and provide me with the information. Whenever I need an emergent case, I… I could ring the direct line and… and email them. So, so far, the situation is getting to me. I feel more comfortable now.

SB: Clearly, Hong Kong authorities do not like this plan of yours. Is there anything the government could do from Hong Kong that would stop you from going ahead with your plan?

VH: Not so much because our… our… we are… we are, you know, advocating this issue overseas, especially in United States or in Canada, advocate a kind of political belief that is allowed in an open and free society like Canada. We are doing normal things because we enjoy the free and direct election. We are trying to push ahead, let more Hong Kongers and more diaspora of Hong Kong enjoy the same treatment. This is a very good thing, and we try to promote it. And the Hong Kong government cannot stop us overseas to… to promote these ideas. This is not a crime in any open society.

SB: Well, thank you so much for your time.

VH: Thank you.

SB: Goodbye.

VH: Bye-bye.

CH: Victor Ho is the former editor of The Sing Tao Daily. We reached him in Richmond, B.C.

[calypso]

U.K. Daycare Heating

Guest: Lee-Anne Lovegrove

CH: People everywhere are dealing with sticker shock this year. But even in the context of rising inflation, the news today from Britain's energy regulator was eye-popping: The cost of heating a home will rise by 80 per cent this October. And it won't just affect single households. Businesses and service providers across the country are grappling with the increase, and are already starting to make sacrifices. Lee-Anne Lovegrove owns Daisy Chain Nursery -- a daycare in the city of Weston-Super-Mare. She joined us from there.

SB: Ms. Lovegrove, what is your nursery doing to mitigate these new costs? What… what are you planning?

LEE-ANNE LOVEGROVE: We're planning to ask our staff to ensure that they have a base layer of clothing on before arriving at work and have extra layers in their bag. We're also asking children to ensure that they have extra layers of clothing or like a warm sweater or cardigan with them when they arrive. We will be using our heating, but it will be used more sparingly. So instead of having it on from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., which is the nursery opening times, we will have it on initially in the morning to warm the building up and then sporadically throughout the day to ensure that the temperature remains at an ambient level rather than having it on continually.

SB: So, how cool will you let it get? How uncomfortable could it get?

LAL: We won't allow it to get uncomfortable because the safety and welfare of the children in our care is of paramount importance. So, we will ensure that the nursery remains an ambient 20 degrees Celsius. But the impact it will have on the children, as we will no longer be allowed to free-flow, we'll be able to free-flow play. So, currently, we have the doors open, and practitioners are based inside and outside, meaning that the children can come in and out as they please, so that their learning is not interrupted. However, because we will have to be mindful of the level and the amount of energy that we're using, we won't be able to continue doing that because we won't be able to leave the door open and run the heating because, obviously, that's putting more strain on our radiators and heaters. So, that's going to obviously impact their learning.

SB: What… how? How… what… what… what impact will it have on the children?

LAL: Well, it will mean that they won't be able to fully engage in the activities that they're taking part in. So, for example, we have indoor sand and water. But if the children decide that they want some of the buckets that are outside, which quite often happens, or they want some of the jugs for pouring, they may have been left outside, you know, when they put them down to come in, they won't have that option to just go outside and get them and use their own mind for critical thinking. They're going to have to say, I need to go outside or please, can we go outside? And it just stunts their creativity more than anything.

SB: What went through your mind when you were told that energy bills in the U.K. would jump 80 per cent?

LAL: Shock, dismay, despair, I think, are the words I would use. From a personal level, it will mean that we won't be able to heat our home. I drive an electric vehicle because I'm trying to, you know, keep… keep track with the environment. It's going to limit how much my car is used. From a business perspective, it will not affect the children on a day-to-day basis, but it will obviously mean that some of the extras that we give to the children -- and to the staff -- will have to be changed. So, trips might have to be cut back. The food that we produce will be more economically-sourced and will be cooked in batch-style rather than fresh each day because it's limited in the amount of time our oven and hob are on because we have electric oven and hob. It would also mean that staff wellbeing may be affected because we can't charge parents any more than we currently do because they physically… they're in the same position as us, and they can't afford it. But that also means that we can't pass that… you know, that profit on to our staff by giving them pay increases. And they're struggling in the same way that everybody else is. So, from a business owner's perspective, it's putting an enormous weight on my shoulders.

SB: How confident are you that you can cope with these increasing costs and keep the nursery open?

LAL: It's not about confidence. It's my passion for this job and my passion for children's early education. With that, I will not let this nursery fail, even if the money has to come from my own pocket. The children that we look after are very diverse. We're very close to our local hospital. So, some of the children we care for, their parents are paramedics, they are nurses, they're doctors. We also work in an area of social deprivation. So, we have vulnerable children. And without coming to us, they wouldn't go anywhere to get a hot meal. So we will remain open.

SB: What are the parents telling you about all of this? How are they reacting?

LAL: They're scared, and they're worried, not that the nursery will close, but they won't be able to afford their bills.

SB: As a privately-run facility, what expectations do you have that the government would step in to help a small business like yours?

LAL: We haven't had any correspondence from national or local government with regard to any assistance that they will provide us. I did speak to my local authority yesterday, and they've assured me that it is something that they are looking into. And we're quite lucky in North Somerset that we have… we have support from our local authority within the early years education team. And I'm confident that they will be putting our plight forward to ensure that we get some support. But as it stands at the moment, the government have not put any measures in place to… to assist us.

S: What do you tell the children? What have you told them? What will you tell them about what… what's going on?

LAL: We will tell them the truth. We will say we have to turn the heating off now, but we'll put it back on in an hour and we'll put it back on if we feel cold. It's not just about the costs. It's about using energy more effectively. We as a society -- as a global society -- have used so much energy that they may actually also have a positive spin that we are more conscious on how we're using things. So, I think for the children, that's a good thing for them because they will see that we're using our energy more efficiently. And if they say we're cold, we will put that heating back on for them. We are not going to limit heating during the day when they're with us. We don't anticipate at this time that the children will be affected in any great way, but we will do our best to minimize any disruption.

SB: Ms. Lovegrove, it was good to talk to you. Good luck with your efforts.

LAL: Thank you. Thank you very much.

SB: Thanks. Bye-bye.

LAL: Thank you. Bye.

CH: Lee-Anne Lovegrove owns Daisy Chain Nursery. She joined us from Weston-Super-Mare in the U.K.

[Spanish guitar]

Great Cabbage

TS: It's been said that a cabbage in the refrigerator is like a cockroach after the apocalypse. Somehow, no matter what, it just won't die. Okay, so probably no one has said that before, but I just did. So, now we can confidently say that it's been said. Plus, it's true. Cabbages are incredibly hardy and can last for weeks in that bottom veggie bin and still be fit for a slaw or a snack. That said, it turns out growing cabbages is a lot harder than storing them. They face a number of pests, from moths to slugs, that can frustrate even the most experienced backyard gardeners. But Keith O'Rielly didn't let that stop him. While the Newfoundland man has had a lot of trouble with cabbage in the past, he's managed to produce a whopper this year, without relying on traditional pesticides:

[sc]

KEITH O'RIELLY: I mean, it looks big on the ground before I went to harvest it. But when I picked it up, it was literally, you know, three or four feet in diameter, across from outside leaf to outside leaf. And my wife just said, we got to get a picture of this one. You know, when you brought it inside and laid it on the countertop, you know, for a bit of scale, you can see it was, you know, abnormally large for what we, you know, grow normally.

KRISSY HOLMES: How much do you think that cabbage weighs?

KO: It was definitely five or six pounds. Just… like, we've had some some turnips we've grown, like, five or six pounds just comparatively. It was… it was definitely that heavy. But the… I think what made it look so big was, you know, the fact that the outside leaves were not hurt at all, and they were green and vibrant. So that's what kind of gave it the big look.

KH: So, what did you do to grow the cabbage that big?

KO: This success was borne out of a lot of failure. So we've been, I guess, backyard farming for five or six years. And we tried to grow all the old staples, potato and turnip and carrot and stuff. So, we went into the cabbage, obviously. But in the first four or five years, we didn't really get anything successful out of it. The slugs and the cabbage moth decimated everything. So, instead of throwing in the towel, I decided to try to get a bit smarter about it. So, I actually built a decent-sized planter box in the backyard, say ten feet by four or so. And then, I kind of erected a little roof over the top and then used the remade cloth, which is a… a thin fabric that allows air and water through but kind of keeps the moth out. That was the first thing. And because the summer was, like, hot and dry, that kind of kept the slugs at bay. But in terms of what I was feeding it, only one thing.

KH: What's that?

KO: And that's kelp from my hometown of Saint Brendan.

[/sc]

TS: That's Paradise, Newfoundland's Keith O'Rielly speaking with host Krissy Holmes on the CBC St. John's Morning Show.

[folk]

Part 2: SK Nurse, Sweden Ugly Lawns

SK Nurse

Guest: Jacelyn Wingerter

TS: It's becoming increasingly clear that nurses in Canada are not okay. On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses called attention to a harrowing scene at one hospital in Saskatoon. Tweeting that the emergency room was, at one point, 200 per cent over capacity -- with 90 people waiting for care and nine ambulances stuck with patients waiting for bed space. CBC hasn't independently verified those numbers, but it's part of a growing picture of overrun ERs with severe staffing shortages. Jacelyn Wingerter is a 22-year-old ER nurse who says she worked nearly 300 hours in a single month. We reached her in Calgary.

SB: Jacelyn, you worked 146 hours of overtime in a single month. How are you feeling?

JACELYN WINGERTER: I'm exhausted, [chuckling] to say the least.

SB: Why did you work that much?

JW: There's a lot of guilt leaving work when they're short every single day and waking up every single day to emails saying we need help. And I was… I'm young. I have a lot of energy. So I thought I could do it, but I can't.

SB: So you just couldn't say no every time they asked?

JW: Yeah. It was hard to, at first.

SB: Tell me about the guilt. Paint me a picture of what conditions are like in the emergency room you work in.

JW: Often, we're leading shifts with the department being overcapacity or at around 100 patients when we have beds for 35. And on a given day, we're usually about at least five to seven nurses short. So, when you're leaving your shift in those conditions -- when you're severely over capacity and severely understaffed -- you just feel a lot of guilt going home like that.

SB: What's happening with the patients if there is 100 patients in 35 beds? Where do the patients go?

JW: There's usually about anywhere from 30 to 50 people just sitting in the waiting room. We've even had people have to sit on the floor because we don't have enough chairs for them.

SB: What's scenes stick in your mind?

JW: Just a lot of frustration and anger from patients. And a lot of people who are sick and in pain sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the waiting rooms.

SB: How do the patients express their frustration? Do they… do any of them take it out on nurses?

JW: Um, they all do. [awkward chuckle] Everything gets taken out on us because we're the ones that are there with them the whole time. There's a lot of verbal abuse and some physical abuse as well.

SB: So you're experiencing this while you're run off your feet, sometimes on double shifts?

JW: Yes. Yeah. And it's a lot. Getting yelled at while you're already busy and burnt out and having crazy shift is… it's a lot to handle, for sure.

SB: And you've only been on the job just over eight months.

JW: Yeah.

SB: Some of your colleagues have gone through the entire pandemic, and now they're going through the staffing shortages and the burnout. What is it like for nurses? What do you talk about when you have a [chuckle] spare moment, if you even do?

JW: We usually don't [chuckle], but it's just a lot of like jaded personalities and like dark humour. Like, we… we just aren't coping well anymore. Everybody's burnt out. We just, we don't have any compassion left in us because we give everything at work. We don't have anything left, so.

SB: Have you ever had a moment where you thought, I can't do this? Where you might have come close to breaking down?

JW: Um, there's been a few shifts, yeah, where I've come home and… and I question, like, why I came into this profession when I want to help people, but we don't have the ability to help people properly right now because of the short staffing and overcapacity. I question it a lot. I'm still in it, though. [chuckle]

SB: The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses says health-care in the province is in crisis, and urban emergency rooms like the one that you work in have collapsed.

JW: Yes.

SB: What do you make of that word and that statement? Is it fair?

JW: Yeah, I believe I was the one to first say that statement. It definitely has collapsed. When we're overcapacity every single day and way below our baseline of staffing, and having people waiting over 100 hours in our E.R. to get upstairs in the bed they're supposed to be in, and having to set up a makeshift trauma bed in our ambulance bay in case somebody comes in coding, and having people in hallway beds and sitting in chairs for, like, 12 to 14 hours, I think… I think that's collapse.

SB: What do you think needs to change?

JW: I think there has to be a lot of work done in correlation with my union and the government and listening to us nurses and us health-care providers.

SB: How do you cope with this day-to-day? How do you get up in the morning and say, I'm going back in there for not just my shift, but maybe… maybe two shifts?

JW: It's… it's hard to cope with. I'm just exhausted all the time. Like I said, we give everything at work, and we have nothing left after. So, your personal life suffers. Your mental health suffers a lot. You just have nothing left in your tank after working a couple of shifts in a row. And it takes a lot of time to recover from that. But often, we don't even have those days off to recover. We have to get back to it right away.

SB: Can you tell me a little bit more about how your personal life has been affected by this?

JW: On my days off, I just want to stay at home and sleep all the time. I just… I feel so tired all the time, and I constantly want to sleep. And my mental health has definitely suffered a lot. Myself and many of my co-workers have had issues with their mental health and had to turn to therapists and medications and things like that.

SB: So I understand you're on vacation now.

JW: Yeah. [laughing]

SB: So, you've stepped away from it. How do you think about it as you're trying to relax? How do you think about what you're facing when you go back?

JW: While on vacation, like, I'm getting constant emails that they need stuff coming in, and you see how short they are. So, I feel really bad for being on vacation, but I needed those very badly. I'm kind of stressed about going back because I've been seeing posts in the news about how bad it's been on my days off. So, yeah.

SB: Well, if you could send a message to the politicians who are listening, what would you say to them?

JW: I would say that they need to hear us, and they need to ask nurses how they can help fix this and how we can come to a solution together. I think they need to come and see firsthand what's going on for them to actually take action.

SB: Well, I hope you get to relax as much as possible on your holiday.

JW: Thank you. Thank you.

SB: Thank you. Bye-bye.

JW: Bye.

TS: Jacelyn Wingerter is a Registered Nurse at Royal University Hospital Emergency Department in Saskatoon. We reached her in Calgary, where she is taking a much-needed vacation.

[chillhop]

WPG Afghan Refugees

TS: This morning, more than 300 refugees from Afghanistan landed in Winnipeg -- bringing the federal government closer to reaching its commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan people in Canada. Among those arriving on that flight are two young boys -- ages two and four -- who were orphaned after their parents were killed by a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport -- exactly one year ago today. Sayed Najib Amin, their uncle, prepared to welcome them at Winnipeg's international airport this morning.

[sc]

SAYED NAJIB AMIN: Oh, I fly out from Montreal yesterday. And I knew that my nephews, they are coming, they are arriving today. [crying] Sorry. Today is… it marked one year of my brother and his wife, they… they were killed in Afghanistan. And I have two nephews. They're coming in. We suffered a lot. So, today is the fantastic day. It's the happiest day of my life. [sniffle] And I can't wait to hold my nephews in my arms. I'm really thankful to the Canadian government for providing the support to my family. He worked with the U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. he was the translator. And he was supposed to get out of Afghanistan on 26th of August last year, when the suicide bomber, the blast… you heard about the blast. And my brother and his wife, they both passed away. And the two kids, they are now… they're coming.

KAREN PAULS: So where have they been for the last year?

SNA: The last year, they were living in Pakistan. And today… today, they're coming here, finally!

KP: So, they'll be coming to live with you in Montreal?

SNA: Yes, I… hopefully. That's why I came here. I want to… I want to take them to Montreal to live with me. And my mother is waiting for them. She couldn't come here because of some problem anyway. So… but I'm here now. I'm going to take them with me.

KP: [chuckling brightly] What an emotional day.

SNA: Oh, yes! Because it's the 26th of August. For our family, it was a very bad day. And now, it turns out to be a very good day. So, hopefully, everything goes as well as planned.

KP: That’s right. It's exactly a year.

SNA: Yes. I came here just for them.

KP: What does this flight -- this charter -- mean to you? It's been a… it has been a whole year since the government's managed to get a flight out. Lots of people saying too little, too late. But what do you think?

SNA: Well, we were counting every second since they passed the interview in the Canadian embassy in Islamabad. Their case was accepted. So, me and my family, they were counting… we were counting every second of our life in the past six months. And then, it was a hold-up in Islamabad because of the flight, they couldn't come out of Pakistan. So, to be quite honest, it's like God gave me another life today. [laughing happily] Everything. This flight means everything.

[/sc]

TS: That was Sayed Najib Amin. He spoke with CBC Manitoba's Karen Pauls at Winnipeg's international airport today.

[chillhop]

Ghebreyesus on Ethiopia

TS: The civil war between government forces and Tigrayan rebels resumed in northern Ethiopia this week. Both sides accuse the other of striking first after a five-month long truce -- a pause in fighting that allowed much-needed international aid into the region. World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is normally in the news commenting on the course of the global pandemic or the Monkeypox outbreak. But the WHO head is also from Ethiopia and spoke about his own challenges contacting his family back home.

[sc]

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS: I will tell you my own story. I have many relatives there. I want to send the money. I cannot send the money. They're starving, I know. I can not help them. I can not help them. I can help them. I can share from what I have. I cannot do that because they are completely sealed off. I want to speak to them. It's a long time since I have spoken to them. I can't speak to them. I don't know even who is dead or who is alive.

[/sc]

TS: That was Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus -- World Health Organization director general -- speaking to reporters in Geneva this week.

[post rock]

Sweden Ugly Lawns

Guest: Mimmi Gibson

TS: Vibrantly green. Evenly cut. Lush. Inviting. Those are some of the words you'd think would be used to describe a winning lawn in a lawn contest. But those are not the qualities a group of judges were looking for in a recent competition on Sweden's biggest island, Gotland. This month, they announced the winner of the coveted title of ugliest lawn. Mimmi Gibson was one of the judges. She works at Region Gotland. But today we reached her in Nässjö, Sweden.

SB: Ms. Gibson, can you describe this lawn to us? What does it look like?

MIMMI GIBSON: Oh, it's really brown. It's gold. It's really muddy and earthy. And it doesn't really have any green grass on it. So it's quite ugly.

SB: Well, I saw the picture. It's… it's definitely ugly, but is it really the ugliest? [both laugh] Why did you think it deserved that title?

MG: Well, it might sound strange that we pay homage to ugly lawns, but we have this irrigation ban and we can't water our lawns in Gotland. So, this lawn had good conditions to improve this lawn with more sustainable choices. And that's why we really fell for this lawn.

SB: Can you describe some of the other entries in this competition?

MG: Oh, there were lots of entries. In Gotland, [dial tone note] we have a variation in nature. So up north there's a really thin layer of soil and just is harsh limestone coming very, very soon. So it's just a few centimetres of soil and that is really, really hard, of course, when you want to grow something. Also, we have more lush areas where people have, like, really thick lawns, but as they cannot water them, they turn really gold, golden and brown and sharp, you know? The grass turns sharp.

SB: Tell us more about what prompted you to run this competition in Gotland.

MG: We have a really delicate nature, but we are also one of the most touristy spots in Sweden. People love our… our island. And we love them to come, of course. But we had a record-breaking number of visitors and residents last summer, post-COVID, and we realized we have to do something to get both living in Gotland and visiting Gotland -- tourism in Gotland -- more sustainable. So, together with… with the tourism business, with the authorities and all the residents, we tried to come up with areas to improve. And we came up with six. But saving water was the most… far most important one. And that's why this competition came in. Because we needed something that could, you know, start a conversation but not be too harsh. Maybe you could put a smile on your face, but still have, like, a really serious core message.

SB: So, you're… you're proud of all your tourists, but did you actually ban people from watering their lawns just as you're inviting all those tourists? What was the reaction to that?

MG: Well, I think previous years it has been quite hard. And, of course, everybody does not react well to this. But as this is a global problem and I think, you know, the understanding for this… in Europe, we've had the worst drought ever. I don't ever think we've had so much trouble with… with water supply. And this is, like, a global problem. So we all need to be a part of that solution. And it was just the right timing, I think, this year to do this. People were more acceptable to the idea since they're seeing all this drought and all this dry out of these big floods and everything throughout the whole of Europe. So, I guess they… there was a sense of recognition.

SB: Hmm. Do you think that this competition might help people get used to the idea of having ugly lawns?

MG: [chuckling] Well, I hope this competition really gets the conversation started about how we will meet this climate change, and how we can actually maybe use or choose something else than a green lawn. Because, of course, it's the pride and joy of every homeowner that has a garden. Of course, you want it to be beautiful. But maybe we have to see what kind of plants that could be more resistant to this climate and still have nice and beautiful lawns that are more useful for us.

SB: So, do you live on… you live on Gotland.

MG: Yes.

SB: What does your lawn look like?

MG: Oh, you know what? I had a really, really big lawn. I used to have a yard in the countryside, but now I'm living in an apartment, so I really don't have a lawn of my own, but --

SB: So you dodged this whole debate. [both laughing]

MG: Yeah, I know. That's bad, isn't it? But I used to have a really ugly lawn as well, [laughing] so I feel proud of that.

SB: Well, thanks for telling us about your competition.

MG: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SB: Goodbye.

MG: Bye-bye.

TS: Mimmi Gibson was a judge in an ugliest lawn competition. She's the acting marketing and brand manager at Region Gotland. We reached her in Nässjö, Sweden.

[folk]

Dinosaur Valley State Park

TS: About 113 million years ago, dinosaurs were taking a stroll around what is now West Texas, probably walking through some mud. Just a few decades ago, during a drought, Paul Baker's father was walking around the same area when he looked down, saw deep footprints and long claw marks in an area that's come to be known as Dinosaur Valley State Park. With water levels back at historic lows this year, Paul Baker himself took a walk with his own children in the park. We'll let him pick up the story from there.

[sc]

PAUL BAKER: Right now, we're in a drought. And so, our riverbed is… is almost completely dry right now. So in the evenings, me and my family a lot of times just walk the riverbed. It’s just kind of neat to walk without the water and see the different limestone and rock formations, stuff like that. That evening we were at the park. And me and my youngest son, Briggs, were walking down the riverbed and he just happened to notice a dinosaur track, just one. And so, I knocked some of the dirt away from it just to look at it. And it was a nice, really nice acrocanthosaurus track, which is like a meat-eating, kind of like a smaller size of a T-Rex dinosaur. And so I cleaned it out a little bit, and it's like, man, you know, it's a really neat track. This is… you know, my son was looking at it. It was like, wow, you know? And so, that evening, I just kept thinking about it. I was like, oh, there's got to be more of them. And I looked it up on the map and it actually was the BP Baker site, which is actually my dad. Usually this site is underwater, under mud. You just never see any tracks at all here. And so, I went back the next evening and started cleaning some of them, and they just started popping out. This, you know, really fine detail. You could see the claw marks in the tracks, which you can see in that video that went, you know, kind of semi-viral, I guess. And it was just neat. You know, I'm 44 years old, [chuckling] and I was just kind of sat there in amazement just to look at the tracks. It was actually a little emotional. You know, I had flashbacks of me and my dad, you know, wading… wading through the river and filling for tracks. And, you know, it's something I did my whole life. I remember as a kid, you know, as far as dinosaur tracks in the park, because we actually lived inside the park. And so, I had, I guess, 16, 18 years of my life I actually got to know inside a park and experience things that came with it. Such as so my earliest memories, I remember helping cleaning tracks with Dr. Farlow, and he did some… some major, you know, studying of tracks. I can still remember my parents let me skip school to go help him do that. And, you know, I'm glad he did. I remember clean tracks, which does a ton of work on mapping system for our park. And then, just, you know, fishing, hiking. You know, for a kid looking back, I had it all. [laughing] I had a great life.

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TS: That was Paul Baker, a member of the friends of the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.

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August 26, 2022 Episode Transcript

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