Today's guest host was Avi Lewis.
Satire
It's Friday, April 13th.
Fast food mega-chain McDonald's will now pay one extra penny on each pound of tomatoes picked by Florida migrant farmworkers.
Currently, McDonald's isn't worried about the extra cost. They expect a surge in sales, now that those Mexican labourers will finally be able to afford a Happy Meal .
This is the Current.
The Degraded Nature of Public Discourse
It's hard to tell what the media will miss the most with Belinda Stronach's decision to leave politics … the dash of high-society glamour she brought to parliament, or the fodder for political gossip and intrigue she provided whether it was a pundit calling her a "bitch," or whether her ex-boyfriend - Peter MacKay - indirectly referred to her as a dog in the House of Commons.
We aired some of her reflections on the decline of civility and just plain good manners on Parliament Hill during an interview on As It Happens on Wednesday night.
Well, lots of people have decried the nasty tone of the current parliament but come-on lets face it - it's not just the politicos - Today - in this age of the drive-by smear so many are competing in the race to the bottom - with celebrities, talkshow hosts, and pundits all behaving badly.
So we've assembled a panel of pop culture, social and political observers to discuss what's putting the dish and the diss in public discourse. Elaine "Lainey" Lui is a correspondent with eTalk Daily and runs the Lainey Gossip website. She was in Vancouver. Akaash Maharaj is a former national policy chair of the Liberal Party of Canada and Heather Mallick is a columnist with cbc.ca and the author of Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life. They were both in our Toronto studio.
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The Current: Part 2
Farm Workers Coalition
McDonald's golden arches have been tarnished in recent years. Everything from the company's environmental record to the nutritional content of its Big Macs have come under fire. And the fast food chain continues to take a grilling from groups who criticize the corporation's labour practices.
But on Monday, labour activists got it their way with McDonald's. They signed an agreement - just days before they were to hold a massive demonstration outside the company's headquarters. The deal - will up the wages of migrant farmworkerswho pick and harvest some of the Florida-grown tomatoes used by McDonald's.
The Coalition for Immokalee workers - which represents the mostly Mexican and Guatemalan labourers secured the deal which will see McDonald's pay an extra cent for every pound of tomatoes it buys. And while McDonald's is now the second big fast food chain to agree to such an increase - - the group continues to put the heat on other industry giants, like Burger King in hopes they'll follow suit. But so far they're not biting.
In just a few moments we'll gauge how far the industry may be willing to go to improve farm labour practices. But first, we'll look at the agreement itself. Julia Perkins is a member of the Coalition for Immokalee Workersas is Romeo Ramirez who is also a farmworker in Florida.They spoke to us from Chicago with the help of a translator.
Fast Food Analyst
While labour activists are calling the agreement with McDonald's a victory. As we've heard, some companies are reluctant to adopt similar deals. And that raises questions over whether there is a real shift taking place in the fast food industry to improve labour conditions.
For more on this we reached Deborah Barndt. She is the author of Tangled Routes: Women, Work and Globalization on the Tomato Trail. She's also a professor at York University - in the Department of Environmental Studies.
Cathy Crowe Promo
Coming up in our last half hour we'll talk to the street nurse, and homeless activist Cathy Crowe. Her new book Dying for a Home chronicles the first hand struggles of Toronto's homeless and their fight for housing. Two of the contributors to the book are Bonnie and Kerre Briggs. A married couple who have experienced homelessness on and off for years. We aired an excerpt of them talking about the challenges facing couples who are out on the street.
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The Current: Part 3
Homeless
For many Canadians this is a time of prosperity. Driven by oil rich places such as so-called "Fort McMoney" in the booming West to Halifax - where there's new growth in the service sector... the economy is growing. The dollar is the strongest it has been in years ... governments coast on waves of surplus.
All of which leads to questions about why a leading Western country like this - has such a serious problem with homelessness. So serious - some of the numbers bear repeating. One of the more comprehensive national surveys done back in the 1980's estimated there were 250 thousand homeless people across Canada.
Now, more than 2 decades later, that is still the benchmark used to assess the situation - despite the fact that most activists say that figure is grossly out of date. And the number of people considered to be "underhoused" - which means those who live on reserves without running water or have space in rooming houses without locks or bathrooms - is estimated to be a staggering 1.8 million.
So to discuss what needs to be done and why we are still faced with this situation we were joined by two homeless activists. Cathy Crowe is a street nurse and author. Her first book is a collection of first hand stories from Toronto's homeless community and it's called, Dying for a Home. Rainer Driemeyer, who goes by Dri, is her friend and colleague and one of the first people to set up a home in Toronto's former Tent City. They were both in our Toronto studio.
Music Bridge
Artist: Steve Dawson
Cut: CD10 “Ruby”
CD: “We Belong to the Gold Coast”
Label: Black Hen Music
Spine #: BHCD 0030
Last Word: Asteroid Killer!
You may have noticed that today is Friday the 13th. If you hadn't … our apologies. But now that we're all focused on the same calendar date, this day of course, is known around the world as a dark omen of bad luck.
We've all heard the claims that there is an increase in traffic accidents on this unlucky day. But you may not know this at least one mental health group estimates that as many as 17 million people suffer from - deep breath - Para-skav-e-dek-a-tri-a-phobia - which is a fancy way of saying a fear of Friday the 13th.
However, there is some good news on this front. On Friday, April the 13th, in the year 2029, we could be in for a very lucky day indeed. It now looks like, contrary to previous reports, we will NOT be hit by a Giant Killer Asteroid. It's now believed that "Asteroid 2004 MN4" will zoom past earth, narrowly missing us and thus allowing us to continue on with our everyday lives. So perhaps our Friday the 13th luck is changing after all. We ended the program this week with some thoughts from York University professor of Physics and Astronomy, Paul Delaney.
Listen to The Current: Part 3
(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)
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