October 3, 2010: Rebuilding Haiti, An Update on a Devastated Country - What is the secret to Harper's resilience?- Eat this Punch (Doc) - Socialist in Chief, Barack Obama?

Rebuilding Haiti - An Update on a Devastated Country - Eight months ago a massive earthquake ravaged Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands, and leaving millions homeless. Many of the emergency workers who rushed into provide assistance have since left, though some still remain helping the government and local people in their efforts at rebuilding their country. Colleen O'Connell is one of the foreign aid workers assisting in the reconstruction. O'Connell, a New Brunswick Doctor is also the Chair of "Healing Hands", which was in Haiti before the Earthquake and is still there today.

Michael and Dr. Colleen O'Connell talked about the immense problems that still need to be addressed.

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Elsewhere on the show: The scandal that is plaguing American voters a month before congressional election: the specter of socialism in the US and the Socialist in Chief, Barack Obama; We also have the nasty inside story of Coca Cola, a follow up to Lucy the Elephant, some thoughts on the Boy Scouts, and more good music than you can stuff into one radio.

Hour 1

Music
Song: Mo' Better Blues
Artist: Branford Marsalis Quartet
Album: All That Jazz

Michael's Weekly Essay

This week, Michael recounts his memory of being a boy scout and discusses his thoughts on the future of Scouting.

Music
Song: Vinicius
Artist: Jayme Stone
Album: Room of Wonders

Rebuilding Haiti - An Update on a Devastated Country

It's been eight months since the earthquake struck Haiti - killing at least 230,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless. And it wasn't just human life that was lost in the quake - thousands of homes and buildings collapsed or were otherwise severely damaged - particularly in the capital city, Port au Prince.

In the wake of the disaster, aid workers, NGOs and media organizations from all over the world descended on the country. And donors pledged billions for reconstruction in the hopes that the country could be "built back better" this time around.

Now, as recovery efforts continue, most of the reporters and camera crews are onto other stories. But even though the media spotlight is no longer on Haiti, the troubled nation is still a major preoccupation for Colleen O'Connell. The New Brunswick doctor is the research chief at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation in Fredericton. She's also the Chair of Healing Hands, a non-profit group that had been providing healthcare in Haiti long before the devastation of January 11th. She was last in the country in July and plans to return again in the coming months.

Colleen O'Connell was in our CBC studio in Fredericton.

Music
Song: Wandjale Chawl
Artist: Wesley Louissaint
Album: Espace Public Marche Atwater

Barack Obama, the Socialist?

It started during the US Presidential campaign two years ago - and as we approach next month's mid-term congressional elections, the accusations are still flying. Barack Obama, some would have us believe, is an out-of-the-closet socialist. Or perhaps he's a secret socialist. Or maybe - as we just heard - he's a Marxist that's about to become a Fascist if the public doesn't accept his Marxist policies.

All that old-fashioned red-baiting might be pretty amusing if it were only coming from Glenn Beck. But it's not just TV pundits who are equating Mr. Obama with Mr. Marx and Mr. Engels; it's public figures and politicians - from John McCain to Newt Gingrich to Mike Huckabee. And then there are the tea partiers.

If Barack Obama really were a socialist, Billy Wharton would likely know. Mr. Wharton is not only a self-proclaimed American socialist - he's also the co-chair of the Socialist Party USA. He was in our studio in New York.

Music
Song: Take me out to the Ball Game
Artist: Joey DeFrancesco
Album: Joey D!

A Letter about Lucy

Last week on the program, I bemoaned the fate of Lucy the elephant. Lucy is living what I called a lonely and miserable life in the Edmonton Valley Zoo. I was concerned specifically about Lucy, But I also questioned whether zoos are perhaps an institution that has outlived its usefulness. Dr. Milton Ness is Lucy's Veterinarian at the Edmonton Valley Zoo, and he took exception to Michael's argument.

Music
Song: Lulu's Back in Town
Artist: Ellis Marsalis
Album: Loved Ones

Hour 2

Music
Song: Moresca Nuziale
Artist: Jayme Stone
Album: Room of Wonders

Exploring Harperland

There aren't many epithets that haven't been heaved at Stephen Harper. But, say what you will about him ... that he's autocratic, unaccountable, inscrutable and irascible ... one thing is certainly true about our current Prime Minister. He is very good at politics.

The man who's done more to centralize control of government than anyone else in this nation' s history has also charmed the pants off the country by taking to the stage to play the piano and sing a Beatles' tune.

After more than four years in office, Stephen Harper may be unpopular in the polls...but he's survived political challenges with a kind of horseshoe luck...Confronted by economic collapse, opposition coalitions, natural disasters, and scandals... Stephen Harper still manages to survive.

What is the secret to his resilience?

This is the subject of a new book by Lawrence Martin. It's called, Harperland: The Politics of Control. Mr. Martin is public affairs columnist for the Globe and Mail, he is the author of ten books - included a two volume study of Jean Chrétien and two books on Canada-U.S. relations. He was correspondent for the Globe in Moscow and was their bureau chief in Montreal and Washington.

Lawrence Martin was in our studio in Ottawa.

Music
Song: Don't Knock
Artist: Mavis Staples
Album: You Are Not Alone

Music
Song: Tip Toe
Artist: Chad Eby
Album: Broken Shadows

100 Million Canadians

This week when Statistics Canada announced that our population had hit 34 million, Premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan responded to the news that Saskatchewan was the fast growing province by saying it proved the province "was on the right track", though what that means isn't exactly clear. Other indicators from the latest population estimate provoked equally cryptic comments.

The right 'size' for a country is a tricky question to answer. In March of 2002, when Statistics Canada announced that the population had hit 30 million people, the response was at best mixed...some thought that was a good idea, some thought there might be too many of us.

And in many real senses the 'right size' of a population is seldom ever really about the number and more often about all the other issues that go along with population.

So it was probably no real surprise that when Irvin Studin put forward his thought that the 'right size' of the Canadian population should probably be around 100 million people, the immediate reaction was in the realm of What...in capital letters with a long number of question marks.

Irvin Studin wasn't totally surprised by the reaction but he was serious about his reasoning for thinking this country and the world would be better off if our population was a little over three times what it is today.

Irvin Studin is an assistant professor and program director at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto and founder and editor in chief of Global Brief where his essay on Canada's population appeared.

This morning, Irvin Studin joins me in our Toronto Studios.

Click here to read Irvin Studin's article written for Global Brief.

Music
Song: Little Jon
Artist: Cyrus Chestnut Trio
Album: Journeys

Hour 3

Music
Song: Riptide
Artist: Foggy Hogtown Boys
Album: Foggy Hogtown Boys at Almonte Old Town Hall

Eat This Punch - Documentary

Anthony Kingdom James is 5-foot-9 inches tall, and a solid 280 pounds. He looks like he belongs in a wrestling ring.

Which, as it turns out, is where he feels most at home. He's a part time wrestler and promoter, and for almost half his life, he's stoked a passion for the squared circle.

With his 40th birthday approaching, Anthony Kingdom James wanted to mount an event the indie wrestling scene would remember.

Now, this isn't the high end wrestling of packed stadiums on prime-time television....the world of Hulk Hogan, the Rock and the Undertaker .... the WWE. This is its little, much poorer, cousin that survives on crowds in town halls and community centres.

For his big night, Anthony Kingdom James rented the second floor hall of a neighbourhood Legion branch in east-end Toronto. He hired wrestlers for eight matches, including an indie star for his main event. He came up with an elaborate storyline with garishly costumed heroes and villains, slithery lounge singers and acrobatic high-flyers.

But his star attraction had to pull out after getting hurt the week before the event.

It could have been a death knell, and might have been for another promoter, but Anthony Kingdom James wanted his show. So he rewrote the plot, shuffled his matches, and the event was back on track. It was all coming together ... except for one small detail. Here is Eat this Punch

Music
Song: Boo Boooz Blooooze
Artist: Nigel Kennedy Quintet
Album: A Very Nice Album

Mail Pack

Time now for some more of your mail. We got plenty of it in response to my interview last week with Professor Gail Dines. She has become the world's best known campaigner against the rising tide of violent pornography. As was perhaps to be expected...opinions were divided.

Do write to us about anything you hear on the program. On our website you can go to the "Contact Us" page OR you can write to us at: The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio One, Box 500, Terminal A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1E6.

Music
Song: It's a Real Good Thing
Artist: Mark LaForme
Album: True to Form

The Coke Machine

The bucolic world as advertised by Coca-Cola is sweet and safe, inhabited by honey bees and turtle doves and blissed-out polar bears.

But it's a world created by marketing wizards paid billions of dollars to promote a treacle-y version of reality. One that's far away from the real world of Coca-Cola, according to Michael Blanding, the author of The Coke Machine, The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink.

The real story of this iconic American company is much darker, he says. Behind the public façade of Coke, he finds a modern corporation that busts unions, pollutes the water and markets sugar to kids.

Michael Blanding is an award-winning magazine writer who's worked for The Nation, The New Republic, and The Boston Globe. He is a contributing editor at Boston magazine and he joined us from an NPR studio in Boston.

Music
Song: Scotch and Sofa
Artist: Foggy Hogtown Boys
Album: Scotch and Sofa

Music
Song: Undecided
Artist: Eric Reed
Album: It's Alright to Swing