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The AIH Transcript for May 2, 2017

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello, I’m Helen Mann sitting in for Carol Off.

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight:

HM: Crime and undeserved punishment. In his report on the death of a Cape Breton prison inmate in custody, Canada's Correctional Investigator blasts guards for using excessive force – and Correctional Services for failing to investigate.

JD: She died trying to survive. A year after the fire in Fort McMurray, a deputy fire chief is still coming to terms with the loss of his daughter – who was killed in a head-on collision while trying to get out of the city.

HM: There's no such thing as a salt-free lunch. The Trump Administration rolls back school-lunch measures Michelle Obama championed to reduce childhood obesity. Our guest says the new rules on sugar and sodium leave a bad taste in her mouth.

JD: Ballot cleanser. London, Ontario becomes the first in the country to abandon the current voting system in favour of ranked ballots – and we'll talk to the councillor who helped lead his city into the post-first-past-the-post era.

HM: What's not in a name? The dictator of Tajikistan demands media outlets refer to him by an unwieldy, 21-word term – so now the apparently never-ending ruler has a title that extends past the end of a ruler.

JD: And... shake me out at the ball game. When a New York man takes the ashes of his friend Roy to baseball stadiums across North America, he makes sure Roy has the best seat in the house. Then he lifts the seat, ceremonially deposits some ashes, and flushes the toilet.
As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that hopes someone will do the same for us, but that's probably just a pipe dream.

[Music]

Part 1: Prison report, US school lunches, baseball ashes

Prison report

Guest: Ivan Zinger

JEFF DOUGLAS: Nearly everything that could have gone wrong did. That is the conclusion of a report of Canada's Correctional Investigator on the death of 33-year-old Matthew Ryan Hines.
Mr. Hines was an inmate at New Brunswick's Dorchester Penitentiary. In May of 2015 he was handcuffed, beaten, and repeatedly pepper-sprayed by guards in the hours before his death.
Ivan Zinger led the investigation into this fatal encounter. His report was tabled in Parliament today. We reached Mr. Zinger in Ottawa.

HELEN MANN: Mr. Zinger, what can you tell us about the circumstances of Matthew Hein's death?

IVAN ZINGER: Well I can tell you that after investigating this, we believe that Matthew's death was preventable. In our view, everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong in this case.

HM: So what exactly happened to him?

IZ: Staff failed to recognize and respond appropriately to Matthew's medical distress following multiple use of physical and chemical force.

HM: Chemical force you mean pepper spray.

IZ: That's correct. I have to say that the events happened very rapidly in about 15 minutes between the first altercation and by the time that Matthew was laying at the bottom of a segregation shower being decontaminated, and at that point he was non-responsive, unconscious, and bleeding. All this happened with multiple staff around and nobody actually took charge. And you know basically assumed the role of leadership and command to ensure that Matthew's life be preserved. It is use of force gone terribly wrong.

HM: How many times was this pepper spray applied and in what proximity to Matthew?

IZ: Matthew was brought down to the ground with his hands handcuffed behind his back and he had five correctional officers on top of him. At this point he was truly under the control of the correctional officers. Yet an officer pepper sprayed him at very close range in his face. And all this was witnessed by 13 correctional officers were in that kitchen area.

HM: You described this as unnecessary and inappropriate force. How many things did these officers do wrong?

IZ: Well I think it's a litany of errors that happened one after the other. I don't believe that they did anything correctly and this is what is so troubling. How they interacted with him initially, Matthew had some documented and well-known mental health issues. He was taken very abruptly very aggressively down and then a series of events basically escalated hs medical as well as physical distress.

HM: Your report quotes what might have been his last words. What were they?

IZ: By the time he was basically dropped into the bottom of the shower to be decontaminated and locked up, he basically had his T-shirt over his head because the officer believed that he was spitting and then they turn on the water. So he was you know he was basically drowning as a result of this for a few seconds, at least that's the feeling he had. And his last words was “Please, please, I'm begging you.”

HM: That sounds very disturbing.

IZ: It certainly is. And watching the videos is heartbreaking.

HM: What information did the correctional service of Canada initially provide about Matthew's death?

IZ: Initially the correctional service of Canada told the family of Matthew that he had died of a seizure. The family was basically left with no correct information about how and why Matthew died for over a year.

HM: So how did they pursue this? How did they seek answers?

IZ: After so I guess about 13 months later, they did receive the report of the correctional service of Canada of its investigative report that provided a lot more information and detail about his death and they were furious. They were furious to know that their government had misled them on something that went so wrong.

HM: You have been critical of the service for providing this misleading information. Has anyone paid a price for that?

IZ: Well you know I'm glad to say that the commissioner and the response on behalf of the correctional service of Canada has actually provided an apology. This was certainly very important for the family and it is my hope that given that the Correctional Service Canada has accepted my 10 recommendations, that the service will move rapidly and implement those recommendations so such a situation doesn't occur again.

HM: Have any of the guards been disciplined?

IZ: This is part of the report and part of what is troubling. When we requested the discipline, we found out that two officers involved were provided letters of reprimand. One correctional manager who arrived on the scene very very late was provided one day without pay and the attending nurse failed to provide any sort of life saving measures was basically not renewed.
What is also equally I think and more importantly troublesome for me is with respect to management. We have to remember that it is management’s responsibility to ensure that frontline staff are properly trained, act professionally, comply with the law, are supervised adequately. And in this case there is no evidence of any of that.
Unfortunately there are many Mathew's in our penitentiary system, individuals that came in conflict with the law primarily because of a mix between mental health and addiction issues. And it requires that corrections basically provide an environment where they can respond to the profile of the offenders that are incarcerated. So we need to be much more attentive to how we respond in a more theraputic way to offenders who have documented mental illnesses, and we certainly need to ensure that at every opportunity, we try to deescalate situations and not have that tunnel vision of security.
This is a security incident that turned into a medical emergency and for some reason everybody that were involved were completely blind to recognize what was obviously a medical emergency.

HM: Mr. Zinger, thank you very much for speaking with us about this.

IZ: Thank you very much.

HM: I appreciate it. Bye-bye.

IZ: Bye.

JD: That was Canada's Correctional Investigator, Ivan Zinger. His report on the death of Matthew Ryan Hines was tabled in Parliament today. We reached Mr. Zinger in Ottawa.

[Music]

School lunches

Guest: Margo Wootan

JD: On Monday, the Trump Administration rolled back rules on making school lunches healthier. Which also just happened to be one of former First Lady Michelle Obama's signature programs to combat child obesity.
Some of the changes made by Sonny Perdue, the new U.S. Agriculture Secretary, include relaxing the whole-grains requirement; delaying the sodium mandate; and allowing the return of sweetened flavoured milk. The new measures will affect more than 30 million children who eat federally-funded school lunches every day.
Margo Wootan is the Director of Nutrition Policy for the Centre for Science in the Public Interest. We reached her in Washington D.C.

HM: Ms. Wootan, what did you think when you heard about these changes to the program?

MARGO WOOTAN: I was so disappointed to see that one of the first things that Secretary Purdue did was to go out and publicly say that schools are not doing as well as they should be doing, saying he is going to make school lunch great again as if it's already not good. And then do that by taking actions that actually would reverse course and lead to less healthful school lunches.

HM: What concerns you most then about those changes?

MW: I’m really most concern about them locking in the currently high levels of sodium cutting salt is hard and schools have been asked to do that very gradually over a 10 year period. They've already met the first benchmark for sodium reduction and now they're not going to ask schools to go any further. They're going to lock in those high levels of sodium which are really quite high. A high school lunch now can have two thirds of the total amount of salt that kids should be eating in a whole day.

HM: What else is concerning?

MW: They also are going to weaken the standards around whole grains. Most people are eating too many grains and they're eating the wrong kinds of grains and whole grains are really a lot healthier for kids. And so, continuing to serve whole grains in the school lunch program is important to kids’ health now, and to cultivating good eating habits for a lifetime.

HM: The School Nutrition Association which advocates for meal producers claims that fewer kids are buying these healthier lunches because they actually don't like the food. What do you say to that?

MW: The studies show that kids are not throwing away any more food than they did from before when school meals were less healthy, or that participation has gone down in any significant way. In fact, parents are really happy with the changes schools are making and most of them overwhelmingly want healthy food in schools.

HM: What about the costs because the other complaint we heard from Secretary Purdue as well as from this association that represents the people who produce the meals is that this is costing school boards more money than they can afford.

MW: I would love to see the reimbursement rate go up for school lunch, but it's a little tricky because most schools are able to meet the updated school nutrition standards at the current reimbursement rate. I think it'll be easier if they had more money but a lot of schools are doing it. In fact, the overwhelming majority of schools are meeting the updated school nutrition standards, over 95 percent of them are.

HM: Secretary Purdue though says this is also a question of offering choice. He gave the example of in the south, where school boards might want to serve grits and the whole grain version is unpalatable to kids. Does this not least open up the possibility that people will have a wider range of foods to choose from?

MW: Schools have endless choices already. There are school meal patterns and nutrition standards, but the schools can serve any food they want. Make it you know within any menu, any recipe, as long as they meet those basic nutrition standards. I know of a terrific food service director in Georgia who serves wholegrain grits and her kids love them. They like them and are eating them just as well as they ate the grits before they were whole grain.

HM: So you don't buy that argument at all?

MW: I don't buy it. You know this whole idea that healthy food taste terrible, I think is a fallacy. If the food service director has the skills and the training they need, they can serve healthy food that is not only good for kids but that is delicious. And I know this is true. School districts across the country are doing it. They're serving healthy food with more fruits and vegetables with whole grains, with less salt, and the kids like the food even better than they liked to before.

HM: How much lobbying Have you seen from the food industry to make these changes to the program that Michelle Obama cared so much about?

MW: It's a shame to see so much politics around school meals these days. It used to be that school lunch was a bipartisan issue. The program was started back in the 1940s actually by a coalition of conservative and liberal legislators who came together to address hunger and to support farmers. I'd love to see that bipartisan tradition come back to the school lunch program.

HM: But do you think Big Food is behind this?

MW: There are some big food service manufacturers who have been lobbying to roll back the sodium and the wholegrain standard. I think it's no coincidence that the three things that the Trump administration decided to focus on around school nutrition are all the things that have been the major focus of the food industry in lobbying against the program.

HM: So looking long term, what are the potential implications of making these kinds of changes when it comes to the well-being of American kids?

MW: Nutrition is so important to kids’ health and development now, and also extremely important to their health down the line. The biggest causes of disease and health care costs– heart disease, cancer diabetes– are all driven in large part by unhealthy eating habits. If we want to get control of our health care costs, we have got to invest more in nutrition and that should include healthy food for kids at schools.

HM: And which children are going to be most affected by these changes?

MW: Well over 30 million kids eat school lunch every day, so it’s a huge number of kids and the overwhelming majority of them, about three quarters of them, are from low income families. So the kids who most need good nutrition are the ones who are going to suffer the most from this policy reversal.

HM: Ms. Wootan thank you for joining us.

MW: Thanks for having me.

JD: Margo Wootan is the Director of Nutrition Policy for the Centre for Science in the Public Interest. We reached her was in Washington, DC. And we did request an interview with the U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Sonny Perdue. He was unavailable.

[Music]

Baseball ashes

Guest: Tom McDonald

JD: Tom McDonald and Roy Riegel were childhood friends who shared a love of baseball. So when Roy died, you would imagine Tom would turn on the waterworks. And, in fact, he has. And he continues to do so. But we're no longer talking about tears.
Since Roy's death, Tom has embarked on a mission to flush his friend's ashes down the toilets in baseball stadium across the U.S. – and beyond. We reached Tom "Porky" McDonald in Queens.

HM: Tom, why are you flushing your friend’s ashes down the toilet?

TM: Well again, he was a plumber. That was the idea and it was just something, it was just something that hit me. I got ashes after he died. He died on Opening Day, 2008, the last Mets home opener at Shea, which I thought was just an odd thing he died that day.
And I started, I got the ashes from his mother, I put it in a can. I have a can like a peanut can. And I went to Pittsburgh, I did it by the water outside the park, and I did it in Chicago on home plate of the old park which is in a park old Comiskey. And then we were in Minnesota, and it's indoors, the Metrodome, before it left the Metrodome, and I couldn't, I can't do this inside. You know it sounded weird to me. I didn't know what to do. So we went to an Irish pub and had dinner. And as I went to the bathroom, I had the thing in my pocket and it hit me. I said “I know what to do.” And I just did it. I just poured and flushed it. I said “Boy, he’d get a kick out of that.”

HM: You think he’d–

TM: My friend Roy, he would. He was a plumber. Anyone else, it would seem like it's a terrible… what you doing flushing your friend? But no for Roy, it's perfect. Everyone of the old neighborhood, they can't laughing, I've told them. I said, you know what I’ve been doing. And you know, like I said, I haven't actually done it for a little bit. I'm doing it. I did Citi Field the other week. So we'll go in there. I hadn't done that because I’d been on the road. And I rub some in the Shea Stadium at home plate in the parking lot. But, and I'm going to do… I have enough to do maybe one more I'm going to, when we go to we're going to go to Durham, North Carolina.

HM: Yes. So you got the ashes from his mother. What does she think? What does the family think?

TM: I grew up with them. We grew up… I’ve known him since I was eight years old. I said “Ms. Riegel?” She said “Sure. Come on Porky”, she’s one of the mothers who actually calls me Porky, since I was a kid. So she's like “Come on.” She, I remember, she had in a package she gave me a spoon, “Here.”

HM: But was she OK with the ballpark. She's OK with the toilets?

TM: Yeah I talk to her. Yeah well I told her, like I said, I did it. I knew she'd get a kick out of it. But then before I put the story, I called [unintelligible]. “Yeah I know you. You do what Roy would like. I trust you.” And she did, she got a kick… and his brother, I called his younger brother Hank. And he loved it. He said, “Yeah, Roy would.” And I said “Right? I'm not you know I'm not I'm not dreaming here right?” And he said “No absolutely, Roy would love that.” And he would. He would be, somewhere he’s roaring laughing at this.

HM: Do you think Roy had anything like this in mind though for his remains?

TM: No. I didn't have anything like this in mind. It was just something that hit me. And I did it and I said, you know this is how we're going to do this now. Because I knew I wanted to do as many parks as possible. So I've been traveling all over going to ball… in fact I'm going to West Virginia tomorrow.
So it’s funny, I won't be around for a couple of days. I’m going to a minor league game but no ashes, I'm not bringing ashes.

HM: You’re not not taking Roy there.

TM: No, minor league, we’ll just to Bull Durham because that's like a classic old minor league that's been there for like 100 years that team, long time.

HM: Right. I understand that they’re–

TM: –Mostly it’s major league parks.

HM: Yeah. Including Toronto right? There’s some here where I am.

TM: I you know what I did in Toronto? I stayed, me and Adam, my friend Adam who is my partner on all these trips, we stayed in the hotel. You know, you're in left field, you can watch the game?

HM: Right. The Sky Dome, we used to call it the old Sky Dome hotel.

TM: We were in the Renaissance hotel, the Sky Dome hotel. I did it in the bathroom there. Because it was both, it was like the facility and it was the game.

HM: So is that the best toilet you've flushed right down?

TM: Yeah I used the one in the hotel room. Because, only because it's part of the ballpark. Just sort of a you know sort of a twist to the whole thing you know?

HM: Yeah. So–

TM: That was a great hotel. I loved that place. That was one of my favourite spots.

HM: Is there any ballpark that you would absolutely refuse to put his ashes down?

TM: I didn't do it at Wrigley Field. We went to Wrigley Field but no, we’re Mets fans. No, we don't like the Cubs, since we were kids so. The first rival the Mets was the Cubs. 69 the Cubs, we passed them. So people have a memory, know that. You know, all these people and suddenly a team. “Oh I hate Washington”. Why? Because they got good? So, but the Cubs, no. And Yankee Stadium, I'm not doing it either.

HM: I understand when you when you flush these ashes though, you have a certain protocol. There's certain things you follow.

TM: When I told him I realized I kind of just thought of that. I said, I would usually if I went to the bathroom, I would go, flush, and then I did him by himself. I wasn't like mixing so to speak. And like e had a good line, he said, he said it's like in the veins of the plumbing of the park. And I said yeah, yeah. I hadn't thought of it that way but that's exactly what I was probably shooting for in the back of my mind.
But I knew the absurd nature of doing that. And I'm looking at the internet, you got to see these people grabbing the story, throwing pictures of it. I never did it at a urinal. It was always inside a bowl. But you know people, it's an easy, it's an easy laugh for a lot of people so I understand that too. So it’s just kind of fun I guess.

HM: So you always flush before or after, before the ashes go right?

TM: Me, I go first. I go first, get it out of the way.

HM: OK.

TM: And then I flush and then I then I do Roy.

HM: Do you say anything, any kind of words to Roy?

TM: No, I said, you know what’s funny, every time as I get to do it, I go “Here you go buddy” I just, something quick in my mind. But I laugh every... It never ceases to get me laughing as I'm doing it. Because the notion of it is funny.

HM: Has anyone ever confronted you or wondered what you're up to?

TM: Again I do it inside the store so no one sees it.

HM: Right. Right.

TM: If I didn't tell Corey, he said, “Can we go at the same time?” I said “You ain't come in the stall” I told him. The cameraman, so they got to pitch me walking in the bathroom. So I'm not, this is just, you know, I don't do it in the urinal, I do it in the stall because it’s close. They had a story about the Metropolitan Opera here and somebody did his friend's ashes and like the pit during the performance and they panicked.

HM: I know.

TM: What are they thinking? If I try to do it on the field, the same thing could happen to me.

HM: I also understand that you did you put a little bit of ashes in your childhood schoolyard.

TM: Yeah, right down the block. Yeah sure, the pit in one of the alleys.

HM: You've only got a little bit left.

TM: And I'm not I mean I could go back to Mrs. Riegel if I wanted. She’d give me another load if I wanted, but I didn’t want to do that.

HM: There’s only so much Roy to go around.

TM: One can’s worth, I do it because I didn't know where it was going, where I was going to go with it. But you know, it worked out. It was, it's an odd story but it's funny.

HM: So this there's one more Park left. That's the Durham one you were telling me about.

TM: Like I said, it's funny. I haven't done it in about a year or two because so I finished all the major league parks and I was going to minor league parks lately to try… My next thing is to go to all 48 states. You know, some minor league parks. I’ve been to, it’ll be 37 states tomorrow… and what sounds like no big deal but I don't drive. So it's a little tricky.

HM: Is it going to be hard to not have Roy with you again?

TM: You know what, I think this last one I do the last one, it will be a goof. I just, you know, I don't know that will be a funny moment. But it's just you know, it's just something we would do.

HM: Thanks for talking to us.

TM: Thank you very much. Bye.

JD: What a tribute. That was Tom "Porky" McDonald. When his childhood friend Roy Riegel passed away, Mr. McDonald decided to spread his friend's ashes in the toilets of ballparks in the U.S. and Canada. We reached Porky McDonald in Queens, New York. You can find more on that story on the "As It Happens" website: cbc.ca/aih.

Part 2: London ranked ballot, Fort McMurray father

London ranked ballot

Guest: Josh Morgan

JEFF DOUGLAS: The city council in London Ontario made a big decision last night they voted to make their city the first in Canada to abandon the first-past-the-post system.
They have adopted the ranked ballot system and that means that in London's next municipal election, which will be in 2018, voters will rank candidates in order of preference. Now of course on the campaign trail the prime minister Justin Trudeau promised the end of the first past the post system federally. And he dropped that plan once he took office.
Councillor Josh Morgan led the charge to change the way his city votes. We reached Councillor Morgan in London, Ontario.

HELEN MANN: Councillor Morgan, when did you first start this push to change London’s electoral system?

JOSH MORGAN: Well this is back in 2014 when I was a candidate for councillor in the city of London and there was a citizen's group called 123 London that I met with. They had a petition going at the time. I signed it and I added it to my campaign platform and from there I talked about it through the election and was lucky enough to get elected to councillor and it became one of those election promises that I had to try to keep. And I mean at the time there wasn't any provincial legislation in Ontario that would allow us to do this, but it did seem like something worth working on. It was going to be a long haul I thought. But yeah I think electoral reform is really important, and the parties have a special place in Canada to be innovators I think.

HM: So how will this new system that takes effect in 2018 differ from the old one?

JM: Well in the current first-past-the-post system, you basically walk into the polling station and you cast one ballot for one candidate. Those are totalled and the person with the most votes wins. In some cases, people will win with 50 or 60 percent of the vote. In some cases they win with 20 some odd percent of the vote. I participated in election in 2006 which I lost by 23 votes and every single candidate in that election got 20 percent of the vote. And so, it's hard to express a really strong mandate when you know, something's that close and you had almost three quarters of the people in your riding vote against you.
So ranked balloting is different because people can express more preferences, and they can express up to three. So you can go in and say this is the person I'd like first. This the person I'd like second. And this is the person I’d like third. And if the person you've chosen as the first place candidate gets last, or is the person with the least amount of votes in that round, your second choice will count and those votes will be distributed to the remaining candidates.
And that happens until someone gets 50 percent plus one, or there are only two candidates remaining in which case the person with the most wins.

HM: There are a lot of people who are going to say you know, our existing system works well it's democratic, it's efficient. Why change it?

JM: Well one of our council colleagues Jesse Helmer told a really great story about the types of things that happened in the first-past-the-post system. He, when he was campaigning, he had a very strong candidate in Sheryl Rooth, who was thinking about running against him. He did what candidates sometimes do you. Met with her and said “We both shouldn't run because we won't beat the incumbent.” And to her credit, she did run, but eventually she dropped out of that race to not split the vote with Jesse. And he speaks very eloquently about how that was a really bad thing for the debate. That was a bad thing for democracy. And Sheryl was a really important voice to continue through that. But it worked. She dropped out and he beat the incumbent. And in a rank ballot system, that wouldn't have been necessary. She could have carried her campaign all the way through. People who supported her and then wanted to support Jesse could have ranked them one, two.
So that's why it's better. It adds voices. People stay in campaigns. There are more candidates who will run because they don't have to worry about vote splitting.

HM: What sort of pushback did you receive from opponents, both I guess on council and off.

JM: I would say the main pushback on this was cost. It will be an additional cost, obviously, to change, that requires education. There was arguments about complexity, that you're making this a different voting system with more options which is more complex. And then you know, the challenge of being first is that no one else has done it. And so there's no voting equipment that have been tested under a ranked ballot system. There isn’t an algorithm with the Ontario regulations that has been done. So there's some risk in that that needs to be developed in time, it needs to be tested thoroughly. And our clerk's office I have every confidence that they'll be able to do that.

HM: Let's break down a couple of those things you said. I mean the cost is not inconsiderable. Half a million dollars for one election.

JM: That's right. Yes. So our regular election budget is about 1.9 million dollars here in London. This would be upwards of about $500,000 more. Once every four years. So the average cost per voter is something like a dollar fifty or something.

HM: But what are voters saying about that? I mean, that’s half a million dollars that could go to something else.

JM: Yeah. And it was something that came up with voters. But at the end of the day, I think the arguments about our democracy and expressing choice weighed out past that.

HM: We see a problem with voter turnout in this country at all levels. But municipally, it's quite pathetic at times how few people actually turn out. Now you're dealing with these ranked ballots that some critics say are going to create confusion as you pointed out in the voting booth. How do you make sure people understand then, that they're not even put off by the whole idea of having a more complex process?

JM: So a ballot is not going to drive turnout. What drives turnout in elections is competitive races. When there is a competitive race, people come out to vote because they know that their vote matters. And if you have more candidates in the race, which rank ballots will do, I believe you're going to have more competitive elections and certainly that's not a great thing for incumbents and I think that's the other thing that I'm really proud of my colleagues for making this decision, is it's not a good decision for an incumbent to have more competitive races but it's the right thing to do. Which is why I think, I'm pretty proud of the decision we've made.

HM: The third challenge you mentioned was concern about ballot counting machines and whether they're up to the job. I mean city staff were opposed to this change in the electoral system. You know does that not give you pause.

JM: Certainly gave me pause. I mean our staff, they're professionals, they're trained well, and they need to express the opinions they need to express. So what's specific about this is that there isn't a machine that has been run and tested under the Ontario regulation. There are certainly voting machines that can handle ranked ballots. There are voting machines that are being used for ranked ballots across the United States. The Conservative Party leadership race is using ranked ballots right now. So these are challenges that are not insurmountable.

HM: As you know prime minister Justin Trudeau had promised that the 2015 election would be the final one under the first-past-the-post system. That promise of course fell by the wayside once the government was elected. What do you make of that shift?

JM: I would say I was personally disappointed in that. I think electoral reform is really important and modernizing our democracy is something that is very difficult to do. And it's disappointing when it stalls. And maybe the federal government and the provincial governments aren’t the right place for this to happen first. Maybe municipal governments which have traditionally been innovators because there's lots of them, they can try new things and best practices can rise to the surface. Maybe that's where it needs to start and maybe what's happening in London will be a catalyst for other municipalities, and will be a catalyst for this to be revisited at the provincial federal level.

HM: Councillor Morgan, I appreciate you talking to us.

JM: Any time. Thanks for having me.

HM: All right bye-bye

JM: Bye.

JD: Josh Morgan is a city councillor in London, Ontario. That's where we reached him.

[Music]

Senator Meredith

JD: The Senate Ethics Committee has recommended that Senator Don Meredith be expelled.
Senator Meredith is accused of having had a two year sexual relationship with a woman known as Ms. M, beginning when she was 16 years old. The senator has denied some of the allegations but not all of them. He has admitted that he had a sexual relationship with Ms. M. But, after she turned 18.
Saskatchewan Senator Raynell Andreychuck is the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee. She delivered the committee's conclusions in the Senate earlier today.

SOUNDCLIP

RAYNELL ANDREYCHUCK: The public will undoubtedly accept that senators are only human, but they will still expect them to perform to the best of our capabilities as individuals. Senator Meredith was engaged in an ongoing, inappropriate sexual relationship with a teenager.
In the eyes of the committee Senator Meredith's misconduct is one of the most egregious breaches in the context of our role as senators. Compounding this conclusion, that no time did Senator Meredith take responsibility for his inappropriate conduct and how it affected Ms. M, as well as all senators and the institution of the Senate.
Only after the inquiry reported, the SEO was released. Did Senator Meredith acknowledge his conduct as a moral failing.
In the view of the committee. Senator Meredith's conduct has undermined the public trust placed upon him when he was summoned to the Senate. Senator Meredith misused his privileged position as a senator. His continued presence in this chamber would discredit the institution.
Having arrived at this conclusion. The committee can only make one recommendation: that he be expelled from the Senate.

JD: Senator Raynell Andreychuck speaking in the Senate earlier today. Senator Andreychuck is the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee. And so next week the Senate votes on that recommendation, and if it supports it, Senator Meredith will be the first senator to ever be expelled.

[Music]

Fort Mac father

Guest: Cranley Ryan

JD: One year ago, 15-year-old Emily Ryan and 19-year-old Aaron Hodgson were fleeing the wildfires in Fort McMurray. They spent a night in their SUV. The next day, they were stuck in traffic. And on the afternoon of May 4th, their car collided with a truck and burst into flames. Ms. Ryan and Mr. Hodgson both died at the scene.
Cranley Ryan is Emily's father, and a deputy fire chief in Fort McMurray. And that is where we reached him.

HM: Mr. Ryan, first of all I'm very sorry for the loss of your daughter.

CRANLEY RYAN: Thank you. I don't know it's hard to you know, respond to those one. I get it. Us too. Thank you.

HM: How has your family been coping since Emily died a year ago?

CR: Personally, I suppose, as a group, our family, we're pretty strong together. We're a large family a large blended family, we've got a lot of support. I’ve got my Fire Hall family and that network to work with. That kind of helps us get through and be able to cope.

HM: What do you remember of your last conversation with Emily?

CR: Pretty much every morning, our routine in the house is dad gets up and goes down to make sure all the kids are awake and we make breakfast or shakes or whatever for the kids to take to school every day as they walk out the door kind of thing. It’s “I love you guys and I’ll see you tonight.” You know, I don't think the morning of the third was all different than that. I believe the last words that we exchanged were ‘I love you’s.

HM: I understand that you and your crew were fighting the fires when you heard about the crash. I know it's very difficult but could you take us back to that day.

CR: We were assigned in Dickinsfield at the time, doing roving patrols, looking for spot fires from the embers and things that were landing in the community, on the grass. Catching them and putting them out before they started any larger fires. That were that was kind of our role. We just moved over there area from Wood Buffalo where we'd been working up until that point.
So we weren't in a community for very long because we just got there. We basically were one lap through the community and I got the frantic phone call. That's all I heard. I didn't even understand any of the words that were said, and then it was a dropped call kind of right away. And then I recognized the number as being my wife’s and I was sitting with one of my captains and the time, and like I don't know what's going on but that doesn't sound good. And then, we were able to make that phone connection again for a moment, just after that, like a minute later. And she gave me the message that there's been a terrible accident and the kids are gone.

HM: When you read the reports that say there were no casualties as a result of the fire what do you think?

CR: I believe, you know, that some people are kidding themselves. We did very well as a organization to evacuate and get that many people out of town with the, you know, limited injuries and so on. It was a phenomenal job. But we didn't strike 100 percent. You know, this was a direct result.

HM: What kind of person was Emily? Can you share some of your thoughts and happier memories of her with us?

CR: Yes. We get asked that question a lot. You know, we've spoke already for her love of books and reading and you know, how she cherished her book collection and took care of those. But, you know she also cherished her families and friends. And she was the best hugger, and she was very loyal to her friend, she was a good friend. She was a little girl with an attitude sometimes.

HM: And you mentioned–

CR: And that wasn't always the best kind of scenario for a dad trying to raise a young girl. But you know, when she got caught doing something, she took the consequences with grace too. She would own up to it and “Oh yeah, I did that.”

HM: You mentioned triplets. She was a triplet.

CR: Yes. She was the oldest of the three. She had a two minute lead and she would let them all know that she was the senior and she would be the motherly one. She would take care of them and tell on them and she'd leave out the parts where she was involved. But she would let us know what they were up to. But she loved all of us and we all loved her.

HM: In that, I want to also remind everyone that you also lost Emily's stepmother's nephew Aaron. What are your thoughts of him?

CR: I didn't know Aaron much. I’d only met him probably, you know, five or six times, but he was very similar to Emily in some ways. He was he was a reader and he liked his books and he gamed a lot. He was kind of a quiet soul. But Aaron was a good kid.

HM: When you talk about being a large and close blended family, you've also spoken in the past about feeling somehow that if anyone had to go through this, you were chosen for a reason. Why do you believe that?

CR: I just leave there's a bigger picture. Maybe we don't fully understand it. The entire community has suffered loss. You know, nobody was exempt from that. Everybody has lost something or someone over time and this was just an unfortunate series of events and it was just simply our turn I believe.

HM: You mentioned plans for a possible park or a park bench in Emily's memory. Where do those plans stand at this point?

CR: There will be an announcement coming out actually to announce a partnership where they're planning to build a monument of sorts to honor all of the responders and community members and people that were affected. The monument will be lasting memento of this historic event.
Once they unveiled this later today and more details come out, people will get excited about it and it's going to be meaningful.

HM: I hope it comes together in the way that you want it to. And I really appreciate you taking time to speak with us today and share your memories of your late daughter.

CR: Thank you, Helen. Thanks for having us on.

HM: All right. My best to you.

JD: That was Cranley Ryan. We reached him in Fort McMurray. One year ago, Mr. Ryan's daughter Emily was killed in a car crash while she was fleeing the fires in Fort McMurray. She was 15 years old.

[Music]

Tajikstan leader

JD: What do you give the guy who has everything, because he took it all?
Emomali Rahmon has been the leader of Tajikistan since 1992. He and his family control the largest bank in the country, and its major businesses. He has been re-elected several times in rigged elections. He has been given lifelong immunity from prosecution by Tajikistan's parliament. He has largely gotten rid of such irritants as "human rights" and "freedom of speech." And last year, 95 per cent of voters granted him the power to stay in power as long as he wants.
So what else could The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, possibly want? Well not much, just that state-run media outlets refer to him by his full title whenever possible. That title being The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon.
According to the BBC, those outlets are allowed to refer to him as "Leader of the Nation" for short, on occasion. But if they are delivering an "official report," they've got to say the whole absurdly long title and display it as well. According to the BBC reporter who timed it, quote: "It takes a full 15 seconds for the name to scroll across the screen on the main TV news."
So apparently The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon doesn't know that it's not cool to give yourself a nickname. And in a country that's so destitute, it's pretty gauche to be so thoroughly entitled.

Part 3: St. John's homeless, Ueli Steck obit

JD: If you haven't had a chance to see it, you have well, almost definitely at least heard by now about Come From Away it is the musical that tells the story of how residents of Gander, Newfoundland opened their hearts and their homes to thousands of passengers left stranded when their flights were forced to land in Gander after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Well after touring across Canada and the US the show is now enjoying a successful Broadway run and it has just been awarded with seven Tony nominations, including ones for best musical and Best Featured Actress in a musical. And that latter nod goes to actor Jen Colella who among other roles in the musical portrays American Airlines captain Beverly Bass.
Last year the real life Ms. Bass who has since retired spoke with Carol Off about heading back to Gander to catch the opening performance of come from away in that city. And by that time, she and her husband had already seen it 32 times. But she shared with Carol why she never tires of it.
Here's an excerpt from that conversation from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

BEVERLY BASS: Honestly, the first time we saw it was in La Jolla, when they opened in 2015, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn't even realize that the musical had been written. Certainly not, to the extent that it is in its format today. And so, the first night my husband were there. Within the first five minutes, he and I were just bawling our heads are buried in our hands and we missed about 75 percent of the show because we just had no idea how spectacular it is. We didn't know that my, that that character is so prominent in the show. And the only solo in the show is a song that she sings, that is basically my entire life in four minutes with regard to my flight career. And we were just shocked, absolutely shocked. And so we couldn't wait to get back to see it again since we missed so much of it with our heads in our hands the first time. So, now we can almost get through without crying. There are parts of that are just so beautiful, and obviously there are sad parts, but it never allows you to remain sad very long because it immediately transitions to something so happy, or so funny and you really experience every emotion watching this show.

CAROL OFF: It's totally understandable that you and your husband would want to see this musical so many times and be so attached. But what is it about the story of Gander on 9/11 that has grabbed so many people over all these years?

BB: Well I think what really has happened is 9/11 was such a dark time in our history. And what happened in Gander, and what the people did for us, and the generosity and kindness that was bestowed upon us, I think it just made people realize that there was still such goodness in the world. And these people just gave up everything, they gave up their lives, their homes, they cooked for five days for nearly 7000 passengers. We had three hot meals a day. I mean, it was just nonstop.
And I think one of the best things that the musical has done is it has allowed so many people in the United States to realize what actually happened during that time. And that's, I think why they are wanting to call it a 9/12 story, because it's really all the good things that happened, obviously as a result of a terrible thing. But it's a 9/12 story because there is so much goodness in it.

JD: From our archives, that was Carol in conversation with former American Airlines pilot Beverly Bass. That's from October of last year.
Come From Away, the musical based on the events in Gander following the 9/11 terrorist attacks has just been nominated for seven Tonys.

[Music]

St. Johns homeless

Guest: Krista Gladney

JD: For the first time, St. John's, Newfoundland, can put a number on its homeless population.
The so-called "Everyone Counts" survey, released today, shows that – on the date when the data was collected in late November of last year – at least 166 people were experiencing homelessness in that city.
The city has never done a survey like this before. And the new results have given researchers insights into who is most likely to be experiencing homelessness, and what can be done about it.
Krista Gladney was the project coordinator for the survey, which was conducted by End Homelessness St. John's. We reached Ms. Gladney in St. John's.

HELEN MANN: Ms. Gladney, you had more than 100 volunteers helping to gather the data for this survey. What did you learn about the homeless population in St. John's?

KRISTA GLADNEY: One of the key messages that we learned about our homeless population is that people who are experiencing homelessness in St. Johns want housing but they have barriers to obtaining it and so that is you know, what we had, we knew when we implemented our plan to end homelessness in 2014. And this just reaffirms that finding.

HM: Was there any doubt that people living on the streets or living without homes wanted a permanent place to live?

KG: There is sometimes, some talk that there are, and there's a very small percentage. We had 5 percent of respondents who said they chose to be homeless, that they didn't want permanent housing. But I think sometimes there are misconceptions that that number may be bigger than it is.

HM: When you look at these results, were there any of the statistics that you found unexpected or alarming?

KG: You know there's definitely some that were alarming. We did have the overrepresentation of the indigenous and LGBTQ2S. And also we had a high percentage that had some involvement with child protection services. So just under half of our respondents had some involvement with child protection services during their lifetime. That included either receiving services while they remained with their family or resided with a family member, or having been in foster care. And when we asked them if they felt the child protection services was helpful in their transition to independence, 62 percent of our respondents felt that they were not. And 50 percent indicated that they became homeless less than a year after leaving the care of child protection services.
So some of those findings are really concerning. It definitely shows that we need to do more work in so those areas and understanding the factors that contribute to homelessness for certain groups.

HM: Right now do you have a sense of whether the numbers and the types of people that you're seeing are unique to St. John’s, or if this is kind of trend that is emerging elsewhere in the country as well.

KG: You know these types of trends, some overrepresentation of Indigenous, the overrepresentation of LGBTQ2S and involvement with child protection, are things that are, you know, consistent with national trends. We with End Homelessness St. Johns, don't find any comfort in being in those national trends and we definitely know that there's lots of work to be done to see why we have those groups overrepresented and get a better understanding of what causes and perpetuate homelessness for these groups.

HM: Why do you suppose that St. Johns has never counted its homeless population before this?

KG: That's a good question. I think there's lots of communities that haven't conducted a point in time count. You know, we've implemented our plan in 2014 which is a community plan to end homelessness by 2019. So it's part of a plan to conduct count. I don't know why we haven't done one before but we're definitely working through the plan and working to, and we will be conducting counts on a biennial basis on a go forth.

HM: So now that you have all this information, how does that affect that plan you're talking about? Will it reshape some of the decisions that you make?

KG: Yes. So the information, all the data, will be used to, again, we identified groups that are overrepresented We also identified the barriers to housing that people in St. John have to obtaining housing. We identified service needs of our local population. And so with all that information, we know addressing homelessness can't be done by just one single group. It's going to take all sorts of partners, it affects all sorts of different public systems. And so there needs to be a lot of conversation about what that means on a local level but looking within all of our systems. And so we with End Homelessness St. Johns, we have this count. We did the count, we have our plan to end homelessness. But we also believe that we need a provincial plan to prevent and end homelessness in Newfoundland and Labrador.

HM: Has the province given you any that they want to sign on help you with that.

KG: Yes. So we are working with provincial government partners to help make this a reality. And so there are some talks ongoing.

HG: And when you look at homelessness on the national level, what are your thoughts? What's are the main objectives here? What needs to be done to address the numbers?

KG: You know, I think it's great that the federal government has announced its investments for a new national housing strategy. That was done earlier this year in the budget. From that, you know we need local communities across Canada including St. Johns to be a part of that strategy and delivering it on the ground that it's tailored to local needs and regional needs. And while achieving its national outcomes.

HM: So what's different now? What's different now that you've got this information in hand from when you didn't have it.

KG: You know it really reaffirms a lot of what we have in our plan, a lot of the goals that we've set out in ending chronic homelessness. It identifies that people really want housing, and it identifies the barriers that they need and the support that they need to overcome it. So as part of our plan you know, we've it's based on housing first, which is a philosophy you know that people want housing, and that by providing them with stable and permanent housing, then you can allow them to address some of the other issues that they may have.

HM: Ms. Gladney, thank you for talking to us.

KG: Thank you for having me.

HM: All right bye-bye.

KG: Thank you.

JD: Krista Gladney was the project coordinator for the first survey to take stock of the homeless population in St. John's Newfoundland. And that's where we reached her.

[Music]

LR senate book

JD: It is a rare rare thing to find a children's book that delights both the young and the old alike. You've read all the Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter, and Roald Dahl, dog-eared volume's of Hans Christian Andersen and Harry Potter are collecting dust on the shelf. You're desperate, and then in a moment of great good fortune, you flip on the radio.

[Music]

MICHAEL ENRIGHT: The wise owls by the Senate of Canada. Everyone in the forest knew the Owls were wise. They had been in the forest as long as anyone could remember.

JD: An instant classic. Last night we brought you an abridged, sadly reading of, The Wise Owls, a new children's book published and indeed written by the Senate of Canada. The 23 page story casts Members of Parliament as incompetent animals, who need to rely on the "wise owls" in the Senate to get anything done. It's a thrilling premise, full of teachable moments. But even after we enlisted Michael Enright's honey-toned narration, the book managed to ruffle your feathers.
On Facebook, Douglas McKercher wrote: "Vanity publishing at its worst. Not a parliament of owls, but an ostentation of peacocks, a bloat of hippopotamuses, or a ship of fools." Jim Goode added: "That's not realistic – make them backroom weasels and it would be perfect." And Julie Byzewski pointed out: "Owls are too wise to have senates."
Well thank you to everyone who contacted us. You can see illustrations from The Wise Owls and listen to the full reading by Michael Enright, host of CBC Radio's Sunday Edition, on our website, at cbc.ca/aih. We’re also on the Facebook or Twitter. Both those accounts cbcasithappens. Email us, aih@cbc.ca. Or phone us, that’s our favourite: 416-205-5687.

[Music]

Ueli Steck obituary

Guest: Steve House

JD: He was an inspiration to everyone who followed in his footsteps. Though very few dared to even try.
Ueli Steck was a mountain-climber. They called him "The Swiss Machine". He climbed the north face of the Matterhorn faster than anyone before him. Two years ago, he summited all 82 of the four-thousand-metre-plus peaks in the Alps, and he did that in just sixty-two days.
On Sunday, Ueli Steck was preparing a climb to the top of Mount Everest when, eyewitnesses say, he slipped and he fell and he died. He was 40 years old.
Less than a week before his death, Mr. Steck was interviewed at the Everest Base Camp by fellow climber Umesh Zirpe. Here's part of that conversation:

SOUNDCLIP

UMESH ZIRPE: Everyone from [unintelligible] would like to know why you are here this year?

UELI STECK: It's very simply. It’s because there is Mount Everest and I want to climb again. I climb in 2012 without oxygen, and now I want to try maybe different route. It's very important you follow your dreams your heart on the end. I think it doesn't matter how fast, how high. I think it’s important you choose for yourself, you do what you want.

JD: Swiss mountain climber Ueli Steck being interviewed at the Everest base camp just days before his fatal fall.
Steve House is an American climber and a guide. He was also one of Ueli Steck’s close friends. We reached Mr. House in Ridgeway, Colorado.

HM: Steve House, first of all let me just say how sorry I am for the loss of your friend.

STEVE HOUSE: Yes. Thank you for that. A tragedy for all of us.

HM: Of course. And you know, I'm just wondering what goes through your mind when you're when you first heard the news of his death?

SH: I mean, my first reaction when I heard the news was more physical than mental. Just feeling shook and deflated and like I was hit by a giant fat bus if that makes sense. And I think to the world, and especially to the climbing world, he was kind of a super human figure. One of our leaders. So having him gone is hard but I think for me personally, it was all of that, but he's was my friend.
I would drink coffee with him, make dinner with him, you know.

HM: More than more than an iconic figure for you. Someone you were very close to.

SH: Yeah.

HM: And he was preparing to summit Everest again.

SH: Yeah. He had this idea of climbing Everest and Lhotse and Nuptse, which we called the horseshoe traverse because if you look at them 50,000 feet in the air, you would see a giant horseshoe. And he had permits for all three peaks. And I think his intention was to for sure climb Everest and Lhotse at the traverse, which has never been done before, but I suspect he had the Nuptse permit in his back pocket in case he got to the top Lhotse and felt good enough to continue. That will be the ultimate completion of this project that has been envisioned by mountaineers for probably decades.

HM: 40 is a young age for anyone to die. When you look at his career as a climber, what point had he reached? I mean where was he in terms of if his physical abilities, mental ability, and his stamina?

SH: I know from our correspondence that he was feeling great. I think that he was probably at the top of his career both physically and mentally. It's so complex, not just purely athletic, but there's also an immense amount of what we call mountain fends, mountain knowledge, which would encompass everything from like understanding the conditions of them on the mountain and how it changes with weather and time, to understanding what we call the internal conditions of the climber, which includes motivation and ability to concentrate at a certain time, and try to cultivate all those things together for sort of peak performance. No pun intended.
I believe that Ueli was absolutely at the top of his game right now. And I think it’s part of the great tragedy is he had done so much that he didn't have to do anymore. He was forever going to be one of the greats, whether he ever set foot on a mountain again or not.

HM: So what drove him to continue then?

SH: That's a good question that I can only speculate, but I know from my personal experience, just speaking for myself, you know you just have to make a conscious choice like what I want to do it one or two or three more things or I'm done. And I need to step back now. An intensely personal decision. I don't know whether his personal internal calculus was on that.

HM: We know, besides having all the skills and the knowledge you'd accumulated that you were just discussing, he was extremely fast. I mean, he broke numerous speed records. What though was it about Ueli Steck’s climbing that made him both unique and great?

SH: I think what made Ueli great is what makes climbing great. That it's an intensely personal journey that's entirely internally motivated. There's very very few external motivators in our sport. We don't have a rankings or tournaments or prizes. It’s very difficult to even be a professional in this. And the people who are professionals, we don't really make very much money especially compared to mainstream sports. So what that means you have to do it because you love it and you get something out of it. You realize that you go on these expeditions, these climbs, when you come back you're always different.
That process is absolutely fundamental to climbing and that's what drove Ueli. It's because he would go through the process and then realising after that that you're changed. You're a changed person and hopefully a change person for the better. A different self that you can imagine yourself becoming.
And Ueli had been doing that for 20 years. And he’d become this person who was capable of so called records. I mean we don't use the term “record” in climbing because we don't have competitions. We're there for the personal exploration.

HM: What memories are you holding on to right now of the times that you spent together climbing mountains with Ueli?

SH: I'm thinking a lot about the conversations we had. I haven't found myself in the last days thinking about the climbs we did that much. We were brothers in a way, that we experienced a lot of the same things in the big mountains. We had similar ambitions, had similar goals, had similar ideas. And I've thinking a lot about those conversations and rehashing his words and thinking about… my main reaction is just a deep sadness because he had gained so much wisdom. He was a very self-reflective person and he had so much to bring back to, not just the climbing community, but I believe, the world.

HM: Can you share with us any one thing that he said to you that is staying with you?

SH: I will use this example. One of Ueli’s brothers was a professional hockey player in Switzerland. And one year his brother didn’t make the team the. And so his hockey career was over. We don't have that as professional climbers, and that was something that we discussed a lot. How do we deal with that? How do we, at what point do we reach enough? And will we ever reach enough? Or will always be climbers? And that was actually the decision we had both reached. We were climbers to the bone and we were going to climb as long as we could walk. And I think about those conversations and I know that Ueli was doing exactly what he wanted to do. I also know that he did not want this outcome. I know that he wanted to live to be old. And it's really unfortunate that we don't hear his stories anymore.

HM: Steve House again, I'm really sorry to hear of his loss and the impact it's had on you as well. Thank you for speaking with us.

SH: You're very welcome.

HM: Goodbye.

JD: Steve House is an American mountain climber and guide. He was also one of Ueli Steck’s closest friends. Mr. Steck, a renowned Swiss mountain climber, “the Swiss machine” died Sunday. He was 40 years old. We reached Steve house in Ridgeway, Colorado.

[Music]

Electric fence guy

JD: This story may fall under that “Don't try this at home” category. When treating his heart condition. John Griffin takes an 8,000 volt DIY approach. The 69 year old suffers from an irregular heartbeat. It is a recurring condition. It could lead to a stroke without treatment. And so he takes medication and occasionally he has to go to the hospital to be defibrillated.
Well last month, when Mr. Griffin arrived at the hospital mid episode he was told he had to wait. And hours went by, eventually he ran out of meds. He had to go home to get more. And he knew that he had lost his place in line. And he was fed up quite frankly with the hospital staff.
And then he saw his neighbor's electric fence and he had an idea.
Here's John Griffin explaining how he took matters into his own hands to the New Zealand Herald.

SOUNDCLIP

JOHN GRIFFIN: Had one try with the electric fence. I’d heard many years ago this could work, and sometimes shock the heart back into normal rhythm. So I thought, well I may as well give it a try. I walked over and just leaned through the fence and just put the back of my hand on it. Boy, I've got a decent belt from it alright, and by the time I came back, took my pulse just a matter of seconds later, it was right as rain. It was back and normal rhythm. It was amazing. Worked like a treat.

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: How many volts is going through that fence. I understand that there’s abot 8000 volts going through that, but it's intermittent, and it depends how well set up. You may not be getting all that too, because you lose a bit if there’s grass growing over it and patches and that sort of thing.
When you've got a bit of a heart condition, of course you get a bit uptight sometimes on these things and I guess. I was pretty angry. In this case I was pushed into a corner, where I really didn't have any choice as far as I was concerned. So that's why I went ahead with it.

JD: John Griffin speaking with the New Zealand Herald. Again, frustrated by lengthy wait times at his local hospital, Mr. Griffin went home and shocked himself with an 8000 Volt electric fence to treat his irregular heartbeat.

[Music]

Smell my spaniel

JD: Last Thursday the leader of the U.K.’s liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, was campaigning in Cambridge. He made a speech in which he said some explicable things. And then while meeting voters, he said an inexplicable thing.

SOUNDCLIP

TIM FARRON: Smell my spaniel maybe.

JD: Hm. Using cutting edge technology, we have slowed down Mr. Sharon's offhand remark. So you can be sure you heard exactly what he said. This will not help you understand it in any way.

SOUNDCLIP

TF: Smell my spaniel maybe.

JD: Tim Farron, leader of the U.K.’s Lib Dems demanding a voter “smell his spaniel, maybe”. We have since learned that Mr. Farron does indeed have a spaniel, which is named Jasper. We have also learned that Mr. Feron may have been speaking directly to a dog which is not Jasper, possibly suggesting the dog, which was also not a spaniel, was smelling Mr. Farron’s spaniel. Maybe.
When contacted by the British newspaper Metro, Mr. Farron’s campaign office issued a light hearted string of cutesy nonsense that does not help any of us understand why the candidate did say, or would ever say smell my spaniel, maybe.
Now that remark once again slowed down even further.

SOUNDCLIP

TF: Smell my spaniel maybe.

JD: Good Lord. Not only did they not help, it was it was actually scarier and it definitely made everything worse. Our apologies for that.
In conclusion we are pretty sure that with more than five weeks left in the campaign, the most memorable remark of the British election has already been made. And it is about maybe smelling a candidate's spaniel. And no one possibly including the candidate himself has a clue what it means. This is truly a dark time.

May 2nd 2017 episode transcript

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