All In A Day
with Alan Neal

• Tantoo Cardinal plays the part of Regan in the NAC's production of King Lear, which is playing now until May 26th
• Davin de Kergommeaux's book Canadian Whisky: the Portable Expert is now available, and Davin will be hosting an event this Sunday from 1-4 at Britton's in the Glebe

It's a fixture in Don Draper's liquor cabinet on Madison Avenue, but Canadian Club has earned less fanfare in its country of origin.

In fact, Canadian whisky has failed to make as big of a splash as scotch or bourbon have.
Which is why Davin de Kergommeaux has attempted to trace the roots of what he believes to be a national treasure.

Davin is the Ottawa-based author of Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert, and he joined us to sing the praises of the underappreciated drink.

Davin will be giving a talk at Britton's in the Glebe this Sunday, from 1-4.

On yesterday's show we talked to Ottawa scientist David Bryce, who expressed concern over cuts to 2 funding programs offered by NSERC.

Today, we have response from Minister of State for Science & Technology, Gary Goodyear.

On right now at the NAC is a new, all-Aboriginal production of King Lear -- a production that star August Schellenberg first wanted to do 45 years ago.

It is set in 17th century Canada, with Lear becoming an Algonquin chief, and he divides his land among his daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. And playing the deceitful daughter Regan is the great Tantoo Cardinal, who joined us in studio to talk about her role.

• Dianne Whelan's film 40 Days at Base Camp is screening tonight at 8:30 at the Bytowne Cinema, and Dianne will be hosting a Q&A afterward

The cost of living just went up in the Canadian prison system. 

Starting next year, inmates will pay more for their room and board, with as much as 30 per cent of their in-prison income going to their upkeep.

That's just one of the changes announced last week by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. Prisoners will also take over the running of prison canteens, pay for their phone calls, and say goodbye to incentive pay for work programs.

So how are these cost-cutting measures being received behind bars? "John" (not his real name) is an inmate at the maximum security prison Kingston Penitentiary. He sent an email to the CBC after he received the news, and called us to explain his view.

Scientists from across the country, and around the world, use a lab on Montreal Road when they want to probe the structure of solid materials.

The National Ultrahigh-Field N-M-R Facility for Solids has been operating since 2005.

But these days, David Bryce has been wondering how much longer it will stay open.

The facility receives funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC for short).

NSERC has place a moratorium on one of its funding programs, and is phasing out another. And that led David to write a letter to the federal Industry Ministry, and collect the signatures of 46 other scientists across the country. Bryce is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Ottawa, and he joined us with the details.

Tomorrow, at around 4:45, we'll have a response to Bryce's concerns from Gary Goodyear, the Minister of State for Science and Technology.

After a little sleep-in and some TLC yesterday, many moms are back to their regular parenting lives today. But there's been a lot of debate recently about their job description. First, there's a new book by French feminist Elisabeth Badinter called The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women.

The model that Badinter decries in her book sounds a lot like "attachment parenting" -- a philosophy that encourages extended breastfeeding, carrying babies in a sling, and parents sharing a room or even a bed with their children. And she isn't the only person raising concerns about that parenting style.

The cover of Time magazine got a lot of attention this week, because of its provocative picture of a woman breastfeeding her three-year-old son. And the articles inside cast a critical eye on Dr. William Sears, an American pediatrictian who's a driving force in the attachment parenting movement.

To talk about these issues we were joined by three mothers. Erin Shaheen is a mother of four, and a prenatal educator; Brynna Leslie is a mother of two, and she also writes a parenting column for Metro; and Danielle Donders is a mother of three who writes a blog called Postcards from the Mothership.