Pt 1: Bike Courier Rage - Last night, hundreds of cyclists and bicycle couriers gathered at the corner of Bay and Bloor in downtown Toronto to mourn one of their own. Darcy Allan Sheppard was a 33-year-old bicycle courier. He died on Monday night after falling from a car driven by Michael Bryant, a former Ontario cabinet minister. Exactly what happened is not clear. Police say the two men got into an altercation - that Sheppard grabbed onto the car and then hung on as Bryant drove away. Darcy Allen Sheppard died after falling from the car. Michael Bryant has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. Mr. Bryant says he is innocent. But the city's cycling community and bike couriers are furious.

Pt 2: Happy Birthday Terry- Documentary - Like a lot of people, Terry Martin worried about his pension. But his story is different from most. As he approached his 65th birthday, Terry Martin was schizophrenic and living on the street in Halifax. And the pension he was concerned with was Old Age Security- a part of the federal pension plan that is meant to make sure every elderly person has at least some income. In Terry's case, the payment would be about a thousand dollars a month - more money than he could get on welfare and enough to give him a sense of financial independence. So Terry was counting down the days until he turned 65.

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Today's summer guest host was Susan Ormiston.

It's Thursday September 3rd.

In expressing his intention to bring down the Conservative government later this fall, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told Prime Minister Stephen Harper "your time is up."

Currently... An angry Harper responded "Oh yeah, so's your Canadian work visa."

This is the Current.

Bike Courier Rage

Last night, hundreds of cyclists and bicycle couriers gathered at the corner of Bay and Bloor in downtown Toronto to mourn one of their own. Darcy Allan Sheppard was a 33-year-old bicycle courier. He died on Monday night after falling from a car driven by Michael Bryant, a former Ontario cabinet minister. Exactly what happened is not clear. Police say the two men got into an altercation - that Sheppard grabbed onto the car and then hung on as Bryant drove away. Darcy Allen Sheppard died after falling from the car. Michael Bryant has been charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. Mr. Bryant says he is innocent. But the city's cycling community and bike couriers are furious.

We took a look inside the very tightly knit subculture of bike couriers and we began with a insider's view of navigating busy city streets from the perspective of a bike courier. Ephrom Klein is a bike courier in Toronto and he took us through the streets.

Jeffrey Kidder also joined us for the show. He is an assistant professor of sociology at Northern Illinois, University. He studies bike courier culture - in part by working as a bike courier.

Yvonne Bambrick joined Susan in Toronto. She's the executive director of the Toronto Cyclists Union.

Happy Birthday Terry- Documentary

Like a lot of people, Terry Martin worried about his pension. But his story is different from most. As he approached his 65th birthday, Terry Martin was schizophrenic and living on the street in Halifax. And the pension he was concerned with was Old Age Security- a part of the federal pension plan that is meant to make sure every elderly person has at least some income. In Terry's case, the payment would be about a thousand dollars a month - more money than he could get on welfare and enough to give him a sense of financial independence. So Terry was counting down the days until he turned 65.

The CBC's Bob Murphy interviewed Terry several times over the year leading up to that day - curious to find out if Terry's dream of financial independence would turn out the way he hoped. The documentary, Happy Birthday Terry. It first aired on The Current last December.

Post-Doc Update

Terry Martin turned 65 on June 12th, 2008. Sadly, he died of pneumonia less than six months later, shortly before Christmas, 2008.

Music

Artist: Ray Montford
CD: A Fragile Balance
Cut: Remember
Label: Softail Records