Sept 30/10 - Pt 3: Letters

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Letters

It's Thursday. That's mail day. And our Friday host Ian Hanomansing joined Anna Maria from Vancouver to help with the mail.

Long-Gun Registry: After weeks of wrangling, Members of Parliament voted last Wednesday to keep Canada's long gun registry. But if you thought that laid the debate to rest ... well it's just not that easy. All parties were celebrating the vote as a win. So last Thursday, we unpacked the political impact of the vote. And then we heard from our listeners with their added thoughts.

T. Boone Pickens: Texas tycoon T Boone Pickens has amassed a multi-Billion-dollar fortune in the oil industry. But these days, he wants the United States to end its dependence on mid-east oil. The Pickens Plan recommends a greater dependence on natural gas as a transition to alternative energy sources.
Last Friday on The Current, we asked Mr Pickens to reflect on the environmental costs of Alberta's tar sands. This interview prompted our listeners to respond to the Pickens Plan.

We also received an e-mail from Jeff Rubin, the former Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets, and the author of Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and The End of Globalization. In his e-mail, Jeff Rubin suggested we take a look at a blog posting he wrote called: 'Boone Pickens' plan full of hot air' ... a posting that prompted a 20 minute phone call from Pickins himself. And after we read his blog post, we decided to give Jeff Rubin a call. He was in Toronto.

Infanticide: And the Pickins Plan wasn't the only idea stirring debate on the show. Canada's Criminal Code allows women who kill their newborn children to be charged not with murder but with the lesser offence of infanticide. But that might be changing.

A crown prosecutor in Ontario is appealing the infanticide conviction of a young woman known as L.B. who confessed to smothering her two young children. If the Crown wins, she could be tried for murder. And last Thursday on The Current, we asked whether courts should continue to distinguish between infanticide and murder. Then we heard from our listeners with their thoughts.

One listener, Britt Sandowski of Victoria had concerns about referencing research sources when it comes to academically understanding why a mother might inflict damage or even death on an infant. She dealt with postpartum depression.

We decided to put Britt's message to one of the leading researchers into the causes of postpartum depression. Doctor Jeffrey Meyer is a psychiatry professor at the University of Toronto. He's also the Canada Research Chair in the Neurochemistry of Major Depression at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Prostitution Law: Yesterday on the program, we were joined by Conservative MP Joy Smith. She was critical of an Ontario court ruling on Wednesday which struck down some of the Criminal Code provisions targeting prostitution. And that prompted some mail in our mailbag.

We love hearing your take on what you're hearing, so please Contact Us with your thoughts on the program.

Music Bridge

Artist: Ray Montford
Cd: Early Sessions/Ray Montford
Cut: # 1, May It Begin
Label: Softail
Spine: ES 04

Last Word - Woolly Mammoths

Tomorrow on the Current we're going to bring you a story about the woolly mammoth and how it may be helping save the lives of elephants. The Current's producer Lara O'Brien joined Anna Maria in studio to tell us more about this upcoming story. We gave Lara the last word today.