Oct 21/10 - Pt 2: Letters

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PART TWO

Letters

It's time for our weekly look at the mail. And our Friday host Gillian Findlay joined Anna Maria in studio to help share some of your letters.

Older Parents: In 2004 -- the latest year for which we have data --the average age of women giving birth in Canada was 29.7. That number has been on the rise for decades. Yesterday, we looked at new technologies that are allowing some women to delay having children well into their 40s as well as the consequences of the growing number of women waiting longer to have children. One of the people we heard from was Francoise Baylis.

After this segment yesterday, we received an overwhelming response to this story in our mail. We shared some of those letters but stay tuned. We're going to revisit this story - and the implications of pushing back motherhood - next week on The Current. So please, keep the mail coming!

Brother André: Brother André was orphaned when he was 12. He lived a simple life with little education. But he touched the lives of many people. He is credited with miraculous healings. And two of those healings helped vault him to Sainthood on Sunday.

Last Friday, we looked at how the Vatican decides if a healing is a miracle. One of the people we heard from was Jacalyn Duffin, the author of Medical Miracles and the Hannah Professor of Medical History at Queen's University in Kingston. And after that interview we heard from our listeners with their thoughts.

100at100: And as part of The Current's 100 at 100 series where we profile Canada's centenarians... we would like to introduce you to someone who knew Brother André. Irene Haugen met Brother André 85 years ago, when she was a student nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John.

Irene Haugen is now a 105-year-old retired nurse. She lives in a nursing home in Hampton, New Brunswick. And with some help from Janice Robinson -- the nursing home's director of care -- she remembers how she cared for Brother André while he was in hospital overnight.

And the celebrations of Brother André's sainthood aren't over yet. Sixty thousand people are expected to attend a special celebration mass at Montreal's Olympic Stadium on October 30th.

Free Speech: Earlier this month, five students at Carleton University were arrested for defying an order by the university. The students -- all members of an anti-abortion group called Carleton Lifeline -- were not allowed to demonstrate in one main square of the campus. The group's demonstration was called the Genocide Awareness Project and it drew upon images from the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and aborted fetuses. The incident prompted some anti-abortion groups to say their views are being unjustly shut down. Last Friday we heard from Ruth Lobo, the president of Carleton Lifeline. And then we heard more in our inbox and voicemail.

F-35's:  The Canadian government is in the market for new fighter jets ... and the F-35 appears to be the top pick. The federal government is proposing a 16-Billion-dollar deal with Lockheed Martin to buy and maintain 65 of these fighter jets. It would be the most expensive government purchase in Canadian history.

Last week on The Current, we heard from critics and proponents of the deal ... including Retired Canadian Forces Lieutenant-General George MacDonald. He is Honorary President of the Air Force Association of Canada. He is also a partner with the defence and security firm, CFN Consultants which has Lockheed-Martin as a client.

The debate over what kind of plane would be best for Canada continues. The American commander of NORAD -- Admiral James Winnefeld -- has called for aircraft that can fly "low and slow" in order to counter threats that could come from small commercial aircraft. And planes such as F-16s or F-35s don't necessarily do that well. And they're also expensive. The top general in Britain pointed out that "you can buy a lot of Tucano aircraft for the cost of a few Joint Strike Force planes or heavy tanks."

So what is a Super Tucano? Well, we aired a clip with what it sounds like. As you might have guessed, The Super Tucano's propellers don't sound quite like an F-35's engine. But according to Paul Mitchell, the Super Tucano might be a better overall option for the Canadian military. Paul Mitchell is a professor of Defence Studies at Canadian Forces College. And he was in our Toronto studio.

Bashir Maktal Update: Finally for this morning, we have an update on a story we've been following for the past couple years. Early tomorrow morning, Said Maktal will climb into his rundown 1997 Toyota Camry to drive the 500 kilometres from his home in Hamilton, Ontario to Ottawa. The reason for his trip is to pressure the federal government to do more to bring his imprisoned cousin Bashir Makhtal home from Ethiopia.

Bashir Makhtal is a Canadian citizen who was sentenced to life in prison in Ethiopia last year for his involvement with a local rebel group that is fighting the Ethiopian government. Amnesty International called Mr. Makhtal's trial fundamentally unfair. Tomorrow, Said Maktal will meet with Transport Minister John Baird, who has taken up his cousin's cause. The Current's John Chipman visited Said Makhtal last month to talk about the case.

To weigh in on anything you hear on The Current, go to our website and contact us.