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The AIH Transcript for November 6, 2020

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello. I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: Sore newser. After a press conference in which Donald Trump made petulant, unfounded claims about a stolen election -- former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake mourns what the president has done to his country.

CH: Georgia on everyone's minds. The state hasn't been blue since 1992, but with the presidential candidates virtually tied and two pivotal Senate seats up for grabs, we'll ask a Republican strategist whether he's feeling increasingly blue.

CO: Two firsts for everything. Mauree Turner tells us how they made history by becoming the highest ranking non-binary lawmaker and the first Muslim lawmaker in Oklahoma.

CH: Burg of prey. An iceberg the size of a small country is on a collision course with an island in the South Atlantic. And our guest says that if it hits, it could devastate the island's wildlife.

CO: Raising the bar. When a Winnipeg real estate agent learns her client is struggling to keep his pub afloat, she decides to put her commission from selling his home into his business.

CH: And changing lanes. A Detroit entrepreneur believes he's the first person who's ever built a bowling alley on wheels. And he'll explain how the pandemic has helped him find a clientele that's excited about his spare tires. As It Happens. The Friday Edition. Radio that figures his alley could be right up your alley, literally -- go check.

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Part 1: Former Republican senator 'sickened' by Trump's false claims of election fraud

Republican: Trump lies

Guest: Jeff Flake

CH: Donald Trump is questioning the integrity of the US election loudly, repeatedly, and often in all caps. And that has members of his own party saying it's become necessary to defend the world's oldest democracy from their sitting president. Mr. Trump made some of his most outlandish claims during a news conference last night. Here's some of what he had to say before some U.S. networks turned off their coverage because of all the falsehoods and unsubstantiated accusations.

DONALD TRUMP: Good evening. I'd like to provide the American people with an update on our efforts to protect the integrity of our very important 2020 election. If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we're looking at them very strongly. But a lot of votes came in late. There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of those states run in all cases by Democrats. We were winning in all the key locations by a lot actually, and then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away.

CH: That was Donald Trump speaking last night in the White House. Jeff Flake heard that and tweeted, "No Republican should be okay with the president's statements just now." Senator Flake is a former Republican senator from Arizona. We reached him in Mesa, Arizona.

CO: Senator Flake, we just heard part of what Mr. Trump had to say yesterday, and as you know, there were a lot of accusations in that speech. What was going through your mind while you were listening to what he had to say yesterday?

JEFF FLAKE: Well, I was frankly horrified. He is not just challenging the integrity of this election. I mean, he telegraphed this months ago, I should say, saying that in the election that if he didn't win, it would be fraudulent. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised. But to hear that from the president of the United States at the White House, it's just jarring. So I think we were all sickened by it.

CO: Some of the U.S. networks pulled the plug on the speech, they cut out from it. Do you think that was appropriate? Would you support that idea?

JF: Oh, I'd rather have more transparency than less. So I think that people needed to see that. And frankly, if the president does lose, which it looks like he's on the road to losing, it'll be easier for Republicans to move beyond him. He still has a lot of support, obviously, around the country. But I think he's been, I think, devastating to the party long term. And I just think it'll be easier to move on if people see it.

CO: But where are you seeing or hearing Republicans who are, besides yourself and few others, condemning the president for having made these remarks?

JF: There are far too few. But I think if he goes on like this, when it becomes apparent to everybody else that the election hasn't gone his way, then enough Americans are thinking, enough Republicans will say, all right we're tired of this, let's move on. Now, I should say, I mean, the president is fully within his rights to contest and to, you know, call for a recount -- and if there are specific allegations of fraud, bring them forward. But just to cast a pall over the entire election and to say that people cheated and that it's a fraud is just certainly unbecoming of the president of the United States.

CO: In addition to saying that it was corruption and a fraud, he said that in some polling stations they were covering up the windows with cardboard to hide what they were doing and then maybe changing the ballots. But do you think that there are a lot of people listening to that who believe that that is actually going on? Because there were apparently windows covered up by people in those polling stations after they were nervous inside. So do you think people actually believe it?

JF: Yes, I do. And that's kind of what we've gone through in the last few years. We've lost a handle on what truth is. And, you know, we don't have many shared facts these days. And that's what I've spoken out about over the last couple of years. What we had in Arizona, you know what is called, Sharpiegate, an errant case of somebody saying that they were given a Sharpie marker and that Trump supporters were given Sharpie markers so that those wouldn't work -- some kind of disappearing ink, I suppose. But that spread like wildfire in Arizona and it had to be addressed by the election officials. There was nothing to it, obviously. But, yeah, people do believe this stuff.

CO: Well, a substantial number of Americans believe that Donald Trump is protecting them from a satanic cult that is running a pedophile ring. So how do you counter this, we say that some kind of balance or some kind of normalcy might be restored -- how?

JF: Well, it would help if leaders of the party, you know, shut this down. But you have to remember the president, you know, began his whole campaign years and years ago before he started the official campaign by alleging that Barack Obama was not a citizen. Now, in previous years, then, the party would have stood up and shut that down. I remember way back when the tales of Barry Goldwater and William Buckley Jr., when the John Birch Society was commanding too many followers in the Republican Party, they made a concerted effort saying that we can't have an emblem of responsibility within the party. Unfortunately, for the last couple of years, that emblem of the irresponsibility has been in the White House and he's just fostered and spread more conspiracy theories until, you know, when he put something like he did out yesterday, far too many people believe it. So it's the responsibility of elected officials and the party leaders to put a clamp on that. But when the president is the head of the party, that's difficult to do.

CO: But you came out when he hadn't lost. How do you feel when you see that Republicans would now come out only because they see him defeated?

JF: Oh, you know, that's...I don't know. I've wanted for a while more Republicans to stand up. For me, I just knew that when it came time for me to run for re-election, I had to decide, you know, if I want to be successful, given the way our party is right now or has been, I would have to cozy up to the president and agree with certain policies that I couldn't agree with and condone behaviour I certainly could condone. And I knew I'd have to stand on a campaign stage with him while he belittled my colleagues and made fun of minorities. You know, I just couldn't do it. But I think we'll come out of this, we Republicans. You know, election losses tend to focus the mind, and the president's just gone through what looks like to be a loss.

CO: But you paid a price for knowing you couldn't stand on the stage as he belittled your colleagues. And yet your Republican colleagues did. So what is your visceral feeling about Republicans who are only now able to say Mr. Trump is wrong?

JF: Well, they are going to have to follow their own conscience. And I don't begrudge them for doing what they've done. They're still friends. And I think the important thing is we move ahead and we have divided government, which is usually the best government. And we have somebody, I think, who will be in the White House that has been there before in terms of the need to compromise. And we're likely to have government moving ahead that is steady and civil and boring [chuckles] and that has a conservative. That's the way I like my government.

CO: Senator Flake, thank you for speaking with us.

JF: Thank you much.

CH: Jeff Flake is a former Republican senator for Arizona. We reached him in Mesa, Arizona. And you can find more on this story on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

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U.S. Oklahoma: Mauree Turner

Guest: Mauree Turner

CH: Running any campaign is hard, but for Mauree Turner, just putting their name on the ballot felt like a risk. On Tuesday night, the 27 year old Democrat made history by becoming the first non-binary person elected to a state legislature in the United States and the first Muslim lawmaker in Oklahoma. They joined a record number of LGBTQ people who ran for election. We reached Mauree Turner in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

CO: Mauree Turner, first of all, congratulations.

MAUREE TURNER: Thank you. Thank you so much.

CO: Has it sunk in yet that you have this new job?

MT: I think it did like right before polls closed in Oklahoma. That was when I felt like a big rush of emotions. And I think it was also my way of processing and trying to get, like, the emotional toll over with and it was like this big wash of like, wow, we did something really impressive -- like we built a really, really impressive movement. And then, polls closed, I was like okay I'm going to get this job done. And then that was when the results came in and I was like, okay, now I can get this job done. [Chuckles]

CO: So not just an accomplishment, but you had taken on a risk. This was a risky thing to do, as you said to the news site, The Advocate, you said that just putting your name on the ballot was a risk. Why is that?

MT: Absolutely. So a risk for a number of reasons. I am also one of those Oklahomans that lives paycheque to paycheque. So it was a risk because I wasn't sure where my next paycheque was coming from for a little bit there. And so financial strain, which put a lot of physical strain on me, too. But also being from Oklahoma, which is the buckle of the Bible Belt -- being Black, Muslim, queer, gender diverse is also something that's very jarring to do out front in Oklahoma, so I wanted to make sure, I feel like I am ready for just about anything that's thrown at me, but I wanted to make sure that my family and my community were taken care of too because it's not just me on the ballot, but it's all those things too.

CO: So Black, Muslim, queer, non-binary. You said elsewhere that your friends leave Oklahoma, they think you can't be that in that state -- you have to go to the West Coast or something, go to California. What does this say about Oklahoma that they elected you?

MT: I think it says a lot. I would be remiss to say that I live in a very progressive area -- it's one of the most progressive, if not the most progressive place to live in Oklahoma. And it's a place that's full of activists and organizers and people who believe in people power and making a difference. The folks who are quite honestly asking what is next in the end and then put their efforts behind this campaign to ensure that this is what's next. And so I think while it is very remarkable, this is something that House District 88 was always capable of. And it just feels really amazing that I was a part of this campaign. But I think it's hopefully something that would have happened sooner or later. And I'm just glad it happened in 2020. And also a little bit glad that it was me too.

CO: You smashed a lot of ceilings on Tuesday night. But is that why you ran? What drove you to office? Was to make a point? Was it to do something?

MT: I think smashing a lot of those feelings because with that it is the big key focus of visibility. That there will always be people that need representation. And so the amount of phone calls and messages and letters that I've received from folks who are just like me -- and seen and heard by this campaign whether or not they lived in House District 88 was really or is really remarkable that visibility that folks are provided with, because we know a lot of the times in any of those intersecting communities that when you don't feel seen or heard, it really turns you away from systems that make decisions about your everyday life. And that's a part of it, is that these voices were continuously, our voices, were continuously carved out of solutions that were made about our lives. This run was about a lot of things, about that shared lived experience, about visibility, about bringing people power back to the legislature. And it just so happened that it inspired people across the world.

CO: You say you're in a very progressive part of Oklahoma City and also the world is watching and cheering you on. But you will go into the legislature, as you say, with the buckle in the Bible Belt, as they say. And so how do you think you will be received?

MT: I'm not sure. The hope is that it is with open arms and open minds and in the sense that folks are ready to make a change, folks are really ready to care about Oklahomans not only in word, but in policy, in budget. And I really hope that -- because at the end of the day, that's the work I'm here to do. Like I said before and I'll definitely say again, is that this campaign hinges on people power. I was only able to make it this far because of our faith in community based solutions. And I am dedicated to working across the aisle and I'm dedicated to also working within our own caucus because we also had to go up against Democrats in the legislature. And so I'm dedicated to working with these people that I'm going to be working with -- to form policy that is equitable and inclusive. But I'm also dedicated to making sure that we get folks in the legislature that care about Oklahomans, that are ready to make a difference and a true difference. That's it, right. We're not asking for a seat at the table any longer, but we're building new systems. We're building new tables. And so I'm hoping that's a journey that everybody can get on.

CO: Mauree Turner I wish you success and luck with your ambitious plans. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

MT: Thank you.

CH: Mauree Turner is the newly elected representative for District 88 in the Oklahoma State House. We reached them in Oklahoma City.

[Music]

Mobile bowling alley

Guest: Terence Jackson Jr

CH: When Terence Jackson Jr. drives his new truck around Detroit, it's difficult to miss unless he takes a sharp right while you're trying to nail the dreaded seven 10 split. The truck is massive, 53 feet long, which leaves a lot of room on the side to explain why it's so big, because it's the world's first mobile bowling alley. Mr. Jackson has our attention. We reached him in Detroit.

CO: Terrence, first of all, what exactly is a mobile bowling alley?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Well, we are the world's first mobile bowling alley, and we're a luxury service, which comes to your desired location. And we provide a luxury mobile bowling alley. So we have a bowling alley on wheels that can actually travel anywhere to service our guests.

CO: Why would you need a bowling alley to be on wheels? I mean, can't people just go to -- back in the olden days when we could actually go anywhere -- but can't they just go to a bowling alley without having it ever drive to them?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Absolutely. You totally can go to a traditional bowling alley. But let's look in the future, everything's about convenience. How cool is it to have a bowling alley come to you?

CO: [Chuckles] Okay, can you describe it for us?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: It was actually a truck and trailer and we're actually a 24 hour luxury mobile service. We supply cups, napkins and ice -- bring your beverages aboard -- and you'll be able to connect via Bluetooth to our state of the art sound system and also utilize the theatre we have available, which we have an 80-inch theatre screen at the end of the bowling lanes where you throw the ball and you can actually put whatever you like on that screen to entertain you and your guests as you bowl.

CO: Is it one lane?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: It's actually two lanes with independent scoring, ball return, as you would have in a traditional bowling alley. Our lanes are a little bit shorter, obviously, because we have it in a mobile facility and they are authentic pin-centred machines, automatic machines. So you will have the authentic bowling experience.

CO: Are there gutters and everything?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Yeah, there's everything that you have in a traditional bowling alley you'll have in our bowling alley, but you will have a lot of other comps that you would enjoy a whole lot more.

CO: It's a 24 hour service, so do you anticipate that there will be people who in the middle of the night say we need to be bowling right now, we've been watching too much Netflix, so let's just call that dude up, get him over here and park outside in five minutes -- this is a huge truck -- but get him to park and we'll just be bowling at 4:00 a.m.? Do you anticipate that?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Absolutely. We've been really really busy since we launched. We had a crazy volume of reservation. Most of the time our truck goes out between like 10:00 a.m. to noon and doesn't come back to 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning each day.

CO: How did you find the truck that was big enough to do this?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: I actually came up with this idea a couple of years ago. So at that time I had to do tons of research to make sure that everything came together. First I was actually thinking about putting it in an actual tour bus, which is a coach bus, but that wasn't enough room and I didn't want people to feel claustrophobic. In our mobile facility, that we have now, it is really spacious, there are 11 foot ceilings, there's a lot of fresh air. And it's not a semi-truck trailer. It's actually a 53-foot car hauler -- it was originally a service for.

CO: How do you make this whole operation COVID-safe pandemic safe?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Obviously we sanitize before, during, and after each of it. And we specialize in small, intimate parties -- ten and under 15 and under. So most often this is not a public event, it's a private event.

CO: So are you yourself a passionate bowler?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Oh man, you know what, I wish I was. I'm actually not. [Chuckles].

CO: Do you bowl?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: I do bowl. I actually do bowl and I enjoy bowling. But the idea actually came about from years and years and years of vehicle conversion business -- I actually converted party busses, entertainment vehicles, some service vehicles from just actual like regular vehicles, like busses and vans and stuff like that and made them into these beautiful, unique service vehicles and I got a chance to actually see that the world was actually all about convenience. So when I looked at that and I looked at everything was basically going to mobile so when I thought about sports, the only sport you can't package up and actually take on with you is bowling. You have to go to a bowling alley to get a real authentic bowling experience. And that's when Luxury Strike was born.

CO: And so are you going to patent this or will we see a fleet of bowling trucks in the future?

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Absolutely. I already went through all that process as far as patent and trademark and all that good stuff. We actually just bought the second Luxury Strike truck and trailer this past week. So we will be launching a second truck to the Detroit metropolitan area in 2021.

CO: Do you think you can come to Toronto? A friend wants to know.

TERENCE JACKSON JR: No, not at this time, we can't count come for border restrictions obviously. But in the future, we definitely look forward to, you know, our franchisee possibly opening up a Luxury Strike Bowling in Toronto.

CO: All right. We'll watch for it. Terence thank you.

TERENCE JACKSON JR: Thanks for having me.

CH: Terence Jackson Jr. is the owner of Luxury Strike Bowling, the world's first mobile bowling alley. We reached him in Detroit.

[Music]

Latin

CH: Not that many people really know Latin anymore, which is kind of a shame really. It may be one of the building blocks of English, but you know what they say, modus operandi or something. The thing is, though, most of us who don't know Latin don't try to use it. But the people who run the mining company formerly known as Adani, gave it a brave shot, or so they thought. The company, a giant Indian multinational that runs a controversial coal mine in Australia, just announced it is now known as Bravus. Chief executive David Boshoff says it's the medieval Latin word for courageous. And he denies the rebrand has anything to do with ongoing protests by environmental groups. But an Australian Latin scholar named Professor Tim Parkin told The Guardian the company should have consulted a classics department rather than gone to Google Translate because his research indicates bravus means a crook or a bandit or a cut throat. And Dr. Christopher Bishop of the Australian National University said bravus is, "sort of a Monty Python Latin. It is that classic joke where you chuck an 'us' onto the end of anything and call it Latin." Well, that's unfortunate, but that's what happens when you try to use a language you don't know. So any other company is trying to be cool by using Latin, maybe give 'us' a break.

[Music]

Part 2: U.S. Georgia: Senate races

U.S. Georgia: Senate races

Guest: Brian Robinson

CH: In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by five points in Georgia. Before him, Mitt Romney, John McCain and George Bush all beat their Democratic challengers there by even greater margins. But Georgia today is a different story.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER: There will be a recount in Georgia. Interest in our election obviously goes far beyond Georgia's borders. The final tally in Georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country. The stakes are high and emotions are high on all sides. We will not let those debates distract us from our work. We'll get it right and we'll defend the integrity of our elections.

CH: Georgia's secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, speaking to reporters today. In 2020, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are virtually tied in the state, and its two Senate seats are both still up for grabs. Candidates for each are headed for runoff elections in January. And who wins in those votes could determine the balance of power in the Senate. Brian Robinson is a long-time Republican strategist in the Peach State and served as communications director for former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. We reached Mr. Robinson in Atlanta.

CO: Mr. Robinson, we just heard the Georgia secretary of state say that the stakes are high, but emotions are high in Georgia too. Would you agree with that?

BRIAN ROBINSON: Oh, no doubt. I mean, anytime you have a razor thin margin like what we have here, it is extraordinary. And when it's this tight we saw this in Florida in 2000 where it was a margin of less than a thousand votes. And of course, the entire nation was wrapped up in that drama. And it created some divisions that, frankly, last in this country to this day. And I think the nation runs that risk here as well. But our secretary of state is doing his job. He has talked to the public here every day this week to give them updates. And I think one of the messages that you've seen there this week is that members of the public and monitors are welcome to watch the process in Georgia counties where they are counting votes.

CO: I want to get back to that moment. I just want go back to what you said this razor thin difference in Georgia right now, which is really quite significant. Why do you think it's razor thin? What has gone wrong for Republicans this week, given how large the victory was in 2016 for Donald Trump?

BR: Well, in 2016, it was a five percentage point difference, 51 to 46, basically. But if you look at Georgia elections over the last 10 years, you have seen incrementally the Democrats closing the margin from 250,000 votes in the 2010 governor's race to 5500 votes in the 2018 governor's race. So if you fast forward two more years, that trajectory brings you to a tie. And guess what? We have a tie. And you know what is driving that is Georgia is an economically dynamic state, we are bringing people into Atlanta particularly, but also into our outer market cities for high tech jobs or high paying jobs. And that is diversified our state tremendously. For every three people who have moved to Georgia over the last 30 years, two of them have been non-White and groups that traditionally vote Democrat.

CO: Can I ask, what does that say, as your state becomes more diverse, more dynamic, that it actually becomes more Democrat?

BR: I think anyone would argue, anybody who's been in a state for a long time, would acknowledge that Republicans have run the state extremely well and Republicans actually had a pretty good night here on Tuesday -- maintained control of the legislature, which Democrats thought they would take over, the Republican Senate candidate incumbent finished first in his race, he is going to a runoff, but he finished first. So you're seeing continued strength for Republicans here. And what's going to happen over time is more and more non-White voters are becoming Republicans. There's no way Donald Trump could have gotten to a tie in Georgia without getting a significant number of non-White voters to go his way.

CO: You mentioned this runoff elections for Senate. Now we're seeing into again 2016, the Republican senator, Johnny Isakson, won the Senate by more than 500,000 votes. In this case, you're going to see both Senate races going to a runoff at this point. What does that say again for the Senate that those votes are so close?

BR: Well, you're really pulling an outlier picking up Senator Isakson. Senator Isakson was a beloved figure, he really transcended partisanship. I think a better thing to look at as the 2014 Purdue race -- our current senator who's up for re-election this year, he won by six or seven points, 6 years ago. And as I pointed out, that margin has collapsed incrementally. So we are where the math would suggest we should be.

CO: But lots of people are asking the question, you just mentioned how Senator Isakson, his ability to transcend partisanship. Is that possible to return to that kind of a Senate no matter what the split is? I mean, it's just become so incredibly divided, hasn't it? Do you see any possibility that the Senate will change, that there will be any spirit of cooperation in the new year?

BR: We will see a spirit of cooperation and compromise when Americans vote for that. The division of the Senate of the House is reflective of where the American electorate is. And until we choose something different, this is what we're going to get.

CO: I just want to ask you one last question and that's concerning what Donald Trump was saying yesterday in his remarks when he described the mail-in voting system as corrupt. He said there's tremendous corruption and fraud going on. And he sent out Georgia that he said he won Georgia, that if you count the legal votes, he will have won. He said that the election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats and that's why he is doing -- suddenly turned his fortunes because of some hijinks going on in the background. What do you say to Donald Trump?

BR: The president is going to make his argument and it is the responsibility of Georgia officials to make theirs and they're doing it. And Republican governor, the Republican lieutenant governor, the Republican speaker of the House put out a statement today saying that they are going to watch the process closely, they are going to make every effort to ensure that there is integrity in our elections, the secretary of state has said the same thing. So you're having Georgia officials tell the state's story. And the president's got a very big bully pulpit, a very big platform, and he can make his case as well.

CO: Do you think that there is tremendous corruption and fraud going on, as he said?

BR: I think to make the charge...I don't want talk about that. I'm not getting inner Republican politics.

CO: Well, you're a Republican, and the president has said there's tremendous corruption and fraud going on. Is that not something that Republicans might respond to and counter if they think that's wrong?

BR: Well the process is going to play out. The president's going to tell his story and the secretary of state and Georgia officials are going to tell their side of the story. And we have an election that's ongoing. And I have faith in our American institutions that that will play out and we can come to some agreement that we've had an accurate count of legal votes.

CO: Mr. Robinson, I'll leave it there. Thank you.

BR: All right, thank you.

CH: Brian Robinson is a Republican strategist and the president of the public relations firm Robinson Republic in Atlanta, Georgia.

[Music]

Andrea Brazeau

CH: Andrea Brazeau is a fourth year student at McGill. She's in the kindergarten and elementary teaching program. And when she learned that all of her classes would be online this semester, she knew the situation wasn't going to work for her if she wanted to study from home in Nunavut. She says the Internet is so bad there that she decided to move back to Montreal for the semester. And she's written a letter to Quebec's premier hoping to draw attention to the issue. Andrea Brazeau told the CBC about everything she wouldn't be able to do online if she'd stayed at home.

ANDREA BRAZEAU: I wouldn't be able to attend my Zoom classes. I would not be able to basic research on the Internet. I would not be able to watch YouTube videos if necessary, because sometimes we're assigned videos to watch -- even downloading emails, sending emails, sometimes this is not even possible.

SABRINA MARANDOLA: And so it's not that you can't log on at all, you can log on -- it's just the connection is very slow and you can't do things that require heavy data like streaming videos, for example.

ANDREA BRAZEAU: Correct. But not even heavy data, basic Internet everyday use sometimes doesn't even work. Sometimes the Internet shuts down for the entire weekend and the community doesn't have Internet for the entire weekend. And that's the reality up north.

SABRINA MARANDOLA: And so you wrote an open letter to Premier Francois Legault, tell me a little bit about what you're asking for.

ANDREA BRAZEAU: If you read my letter, it's stated there's a section where it stated that in December 2016, Jean-Pierre Blais, chair of the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission, stated that the federal agency had adopted a new rule that declared high speed Internet, a basic service -- essential to the quality of life for all Canadians. However, this was in 2016. This has not been met. And this is an issue I'm asking that the governments, federal and provincial, to be transparent with us, what steps are you taking to provide high quality Internet for Nunavians. You deem this an essential service yet it's been four years.

CH: That was Inuk McGill student Andrea Brazeau speaking with the CBC's Sabrina Marandola.

[Music]

Winnipeg King's Head pub

Guest: Chris Graves & Nicole Hacault

CH: Chris Graves and Nicole Hacault have had a very different 2020. Ms. Hacault was a real estate agent in Winnipeg. And business wise she says this year has been her best year yet. But that is not the case for Mr. Graves. He owns the King's Head pub in Winnipeg. And as you'd imagine, he is having a horrible year. He's only offering takeout and delivery right now. The two were brought together a few months ago when Mr. Graves was looking to buy a new home. But that plan has been put on hold. But when Ms. Hacault learned what Mr. Graves was going through, she decided she wanted to help out. We reached Chris Graves in Winnipeg and Nicole Hacault in Whitesell Provincial Park in Manitoba.

CO: Chris, I'm going to start with you. How did your plans for buying a new home change with the situation at your pub?

CHRIS GRAVES: Well, when we actually started the process of selling our home, we had plans to either look at building or to buy another home. And as we started going through the process and once, you know, we had signed with Nicole to put the house on the market, things had started to change again very rapidly with us. You know, more shut downs started to come down. We ended up starting to really feel the heat because this is our second shutdown. And, you know, we were already kind of treading thin water anyway. So we actually had to make sure we kept the liquid cash or the asset from the home to inject into the business.

CO: Well, that's a big decision. So how difficult have things been at the King's Head pub in Winnipeg?

CG: Well, things were actually really brutal. We're actually at the tail end of our third week of shutdown when other restaurants are into the tail end of their first week for the second shutdown. So, you know, it was really tough.

CO: Okay. And you mentioned Nicole, your real estate agent, and she's on the line with us here. Now, when did you realize that Chris was really as you were helping to sell his home, when you took on the deal, when did you realize that he was having all these troubles with the pub?

NICOLE HACAULT: I mean, it's just like a known fact that the entire industry is struggling. And so, you know, I text them and check in and make sure they're okay, especially as the next round of shutdown happens. And I don't think I knew how bad it was.

CO: At what point did you learn that as he sold his home, he wasn't going to be buying a new one, he needed that cash to keep his business going.

NH: I guess I found it out yesterday. I mean, I knew -- you just had your intuition and you know as a realtor, when not to ask what's happening next, you know, and it wasn't my place. And then I guess I found out the entire story yesterday.

CO: Were you familiar with King's Head Pub?

NH: I'm familiar with it, yes. I mean, it's an icon in Winnipeg. So I was starstruck when Chris initially reached out to me to be his realtor so.

CO: Okay, so what did you decide to do to help?

NH: I do giveaways and I have some things that I do -- usually I keep it a little bit more closer to my smaller circle of friends. And I just do little promos and stuff like that. And so I reached out to Chris and I asked him if I could do one for the King's Head and to try and get them more takeout orders and things like that. It kind of, honestly, was a little bit of a last minute spur of the moment decision where I was like instead of keeping this like tight to like just an email to my people, let's put this on social media and extend the reach a little bit.

CO: This is a promo you're offering to help the King's Head pub. What was it?

NH: So I was going to do ten dollars off and then I'd pick up the tab for all the ten dollars off. I guess my thinking was essentially, you know, I sold their home and I made money off of that. So I'll take my commissions that I earned and put it back in service.

CO: How much of your commission from the sale of Chris's house are you planning to put toward this promo?

NH: I don't know. It might be all. [Chuckles] We'll see how things are going.

CO: And Chris, what difference has that made? I know this is just really recent, but are you seeing people taking advantage of this offer from Nicole?

CG: You know, it's been like literally we've been probably two full days now where we've actually been running this promotion. I didn't even realize that actually Nicole was going to open it up to the public. You know, I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion. I'm a pretty stoic individual and it was definitely it got me down -- it got me in the gut for sure. Since it's happened I mean, the outpouring of just like support and love from Manitoba and even people from outside of Manitoba, it's been pretty incredible. This is the kind of thing that will help save the King's Head. And what's really touched my heart more than any other way is that, you know, we have people that are still ordering and making these comments, saying that we're not even going to use the promo code because we see what's happening right now and what's going on, and we want to support. And it's people like Nicole in particular in this situation it is Nicole that's going to help keeping our doors open and keeping my staff going as well, which is so important to me. You know, here's one person in Winnipeg that has stepped up to the plate that never had to and this is all on her own, this is more money that we have received than we've actually received from the provincial government, which is unfortunate. And what we've received from the provincial government is actually been zero dollars. So it's the public that is going to save our industry.

CO: Nicole, I know that you've had a very good year as a real estate agent in Winnipeg, is that right?

NH: Absolutely yeah.

CO: So was that part of what inspired you to step up to the plate?

NH: Yeah. I mean, eight months ago, I cried when I had to say no to my four year old getting glasses because I didn't know if I was going to be able to afford those glasses because real estate had come to a complete stop. Now, here I am, eight months later, having my best year ever. I can't speak to every realtor because everybody's business is individual. But I think this industry as a whole has done very well. And it's not fair for me to be doing where I am and other people to be barely able to stay alive for their businesses.

CO: And Chris, if you know anybody who's looking for a real estate agent in Winnipeg, do you have a recommendation?

CG: [Chuckles] Oh it's been made very well known that if it's not Nicole, I'm coming and hunting you down. [Laughter]

CO: Chris and Nicole it's great to talk to both of you. Thank you.

BOTH: Thank you.

CH: Chris Graves is a pub owner in Winnipeg, and Nicole Hacault is a real estate agent in that city.

[Music]

Steven Gonzalez

CH: Court hearings around labour law cases are usually pretty staid affairs. Yesterday's hearing at the Washington Supreme Court was definitely an exception. The case centered around dairy farm workers who worked at around the clock milking facility without breaks or overtime pay. According to state and federal law, agricultural workers aren't legally entitled to overtime pay. But according to yesterday's ruling, that's unconstitutional and unfair. One of the judges who ruled in favour of farm workers was Steven Gonzalez. Here's how he responded when a lawyer for Washington's Dairy Federation said farm workers aren't intentionally being discriminated against.

STEVEN GONZALEZ: Agricultural work is arduous and dangerous, I think we agree on that. The workers are exposed to heat and cold in the fields and they labour in geographic isolation. They're less likely to be voters, less likely to speak English as a first language, aren't wealthy, in fact are among the poorest workers in the nation. They have a shorter life expectancy, a higher incidence of disease and disability, limited access to health care, insurance, and education, less likely to have employer provided health benefits, higher rates of sexual harassment and assault, higher rates of other exploitation, including financial, higher exposure to toxins, more likely to be people of colour, at least now, less likely to have sanitary and stable housing, less likely to have collective bargaining rights. Less likely to have lobbyists, less likely to make campaign contributions to elected officials. Would you then still suggest that it's a coincidence that labour laws have consistently excluded them from the protections afforded to other workers?

TIMOTHY O'CONNELL: Your honour, I think the fact that agriculture is different is something that this court recognized as recently as two months ago. And I don't mean to duck your question because you have a long list there. To this degree that we want to suggest that farm workers are politically powerless, I believe that is belied by the facts.

CH: That was lawyer Timothy O'Connell representing Washington State's Dairy Federation, answering a question or really a set of stark facts from Justice Steven Gonzalez yesterday.

[Music]

Part 3: Med students write their own Hippocratic oath to fight racial injustice and inequality

South Georgia iceberg

Guest: Geraint Tarling

CH: It's floating like something much bigger and heavier than a butterfly, and it could wind up stinging like a truly enormous bee. It's an iceberg, one of the largest icebergs ever recorded. It's called A68, and it's about the same size as Prince Edward Island. Right now, it's on a collision course with the South Atlantic Island of South Georgia. Geraint Tarling is a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey. He's been studying the impacts of icebergs on ecosystems in the area for more than 20 years. We reached him in Cambridge, England.

CO: Mr. Tarling, just how close to South Georgia is this iceberg right now?

GERAINT TARLING: So it's about 480 kilometres away and it's travelling at about a kilometre per hour -- well, roughly 20 kilometres per day. So we estimate it'll take about three to four weeks to potentially end up on the continental shelf of south Georgia.

CO: And so this massive iceberg has come from Antarctica, right?

GT: That's right. It's come from a place called the Larsen Ice Shelf, which is on the Antarctic Peninsula. And that's an interesting area of Antarctica because it is actually one of the most rapidly warming areas of Antarctica. And there's been a lot of ice calving there. Now, ice calving is a natural process, but we think that actually this warming that's happened there is increasing the rate of ice calving. So there's been a lot of natural calving of this ice shelf. And this is a particularly large calving that happened in 2017. And it's taken this long to work its way out into the open ocean.

CO: You think it might be a result -- this historic size -- is a result of climate change?

GT: It's a contributing factor. It is a natural process, this calving process. And ice shelves do carve off in sometimes large chunks. But we don't think it's a coincidence that such a large amount of calving has happened in an area that's warming so fast.

CO: Okay, so it's been travelling around for about three years now and seems to be on course to hit this island in the South Atlantic, an island called South Georgia, not to be confused with a state in the U.S. that is causing a lot of news right now. So it's heading towards South Georgia. And what's the problem with that? What's likely to happen there?

GT: Well, there are several problems if it does actually go into South Georgia. I mean, first and foremost it is going to have an immediate impact to the breeding populations of seals and penguins. And even though it's an island, it sounds as if it's a small place. It actually is completely covered in penguins and seals. It's a wildlife haven, a very popular tourist destination even. But these populations are so large, they're globally significant. So if they really impacted, they could actually affect the global sizes of species such as Gentoo penguins, fur seals, elephant seals, those sort of creatures are really going to be detrimentally affected. We also know that if it's going to go onto the continental shelf, it's going to scour really rich banks of deep sea organisms on the seabed. They hold lots and lots of carbon within their structures and they bury it in sediments. And if you actually scour these organisms, they release that carbon back into the water and possibly out into the atmosphere again, which would be not a good impact in terms of trying to reduce the amount carbon in our atmosphere.

CO: And this island of South Georgia has a lot of animal life, but no humans on it then?

GT: Well, we do have scientific bases there in two places, one that's quite aptly named Bird Island, and that's a main haven for albatrosses in particular. And we also have another base at a place called Grytviken, which is an old whaling base. So altogether, we have about 25 people on South Georgia, which are mostly scientific. There are some people who deal with tourists when they're around, but it's a very small population and they're there for a particular purpose.

CO: Can you just give us a few more details as to why, if this iceberg does land on the beach of South Georgia Island, that it will be have such an impact on the life there, the seals and the penguins?

GT: Yeah, it's not going to go right up to the beach, so it'll be a little bit off from the shore, as it were. But the problem is even then it's going to be a couple of kilometres off the shore. It's going to really affect the ability of the adults, the penguins and the seals, to get to their main feeding habitats, which are further offshore. They either take huge detours around this massive iceberg or the actual feeding grounds themselves might be covered by the iceberg. So that means they have to go quite some distance to find food. And the problem at this particular time of year, the breeding season, is that they have to get back to their chicks and pups in good time to make sure that they don't starve. So you might find that there's actually going to be quite a lot of mortality of these young animals because their parents can't get back to them in time. And that could be disastrous this year. But one of the big problems is with an iceberg so big it might stay lodged for a number of years. And so that would be a real disaster that they can't actually recruit into their populations for a number of years to come.

CO: Have you seen this happen before where large icebergs will it will disrupt the animal life of a region like this?

GT: Yes, so there was an iceberg called A38 in 2004, and we were seeing quite a lot of death. And that was nowhere near the same scale as this, and that was further offshore as well. So we do know that the relationship between iceberg groundings and the failure of these populations.

CO: If this has been around for three years, why hasn't it broken up into pieces? Why is it still intact at this size?

GT: Yeah, well, what's happened is that after its initial carving from the ice shelf, it was then trapped within sea ice. Sea ice is seasonal and it sort of generally moves around very slowly. But it was almost like putting this large iceberg into bubble wrap. But then this year it has just migrated enough to get out of this seasonal sea ice and into the open ocean. For some reason that we don't fully understand, this iceberg hasn't broken up in the usual way. It's remained intact.

CO: Is there anything that's beneficial about an iceberg this size landing in that region?

GT: Not about landing in the region. But there's something definitely beneficial for icebergs like this going into the open ocean. What they have done while they've been on the ice shelf is they've accumulated lots of dust over many hundreds of years. And this dust is full of nutrients. And the area that is going through the open ocean of the Southern Ocean is nutrient starved. And so the leaching of that nutrient from the iceberg at the moment is doing a heroic job of fertilizing this nutrient starved ocean. And when it's doing that, basically this marine algae is pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. So it's doing a very very good job for the environment, for the climate at the moment. The problem arrives actually, when it arrives on a continental shelf, that's when it becomes destructive.

CO: And if it does stay in the open ocean and bypasses South Georgia, it's going to hit warmer waters eventually. What will happen?

GT: Correct, yes. So eventually it will be waters that are far too warm for it to survive and it'll break up and then dissipate. And so it'll just eventually disappear if it does go that way, which is the way we hope it does go.

CO: All right. Well, we'll check back and find out what happens. Mr. Tarling thank you.

GT: You're welcome.

CH: Geraint Tarling is a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey. He was talking about a massive Antarctic iceberg that's on a collision course with the island of South Georgia. We reached Geraint Tarling in Cambridge.

[Music]

Reading: Here The Dark

CH: In the words of this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize jury, David Bergen's short story collection "Here The Dark" may deal with darkness, but quote, "His pages light up." Mr. Bergen has been on the Giller short list before, and he won the prize in 2005 with his novel "The Time in Between." And in the time in between then and now, he's published five more novels and the new collection. The stories contained in Here The Dark span his career and the globe, from Vietnam to Honduras to the Canadian prairies. In one of them, a young Mennonite woman named Lily contemplates her life in a strict religious community. And in this excerpt, she's confronted by her parents after they discover a book she's been reading secretly. Here's Giller Prize finalist David Bergen.

DAVID BERGEN: Her parents were sitting at the dining-room table when she came down the stairs. Her Uncle Hans was there as well. The book was face up on the table. Lily paused in the doorway. Her father told her to sit with them. She did so. Her father pointed at the book and said, "What is this?"

"It is not mine," she said.

"Where did you get it?"

She did not answer.

Her mother sighed.

Her father picked up the book and opened it and read. The passage he had chosen was sexual and frank. Lily wondered how he had found that passage. Had it just opened to that page? When he finally halted, he placed the book on the table and he said, "How can this be edifying?"

Lily shrugged. She had no answer, or no answer that would have satisfied him.

"Have there been other books?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Are you lying?" he asked.

She shook her head.

And then Uncle Hans spoke. His voice was softer than her father's and he said her name, "Lily," and then he said that ideas and images from the outside were forever dangerous, because those ideas worked from the outside to the inside and then back to the outside so that what were our thoughts now became our actions. "These are thoughts that seep into your soul," he said. "And it is impossible to remove them. They are like ink stains. They sit inside you and cannot be scrubbed away." He said that he would go outside and he would build a fire, and he wanted Lily to come out with the book, and together they would burn it.

"It's not mine to burn," she said.

"Whose then?"

She didn't answer.

Her father and her uncle rose and left the room and this left her with her mother, whose face was hard. "Filth," her mother said.

Was this true? Lily did not know. She wondered how it was possible to enjoy reading filth. For she had. And she hadn't. And then she realized that her mother was not referring to the book, but to her, Lily. She was filth.

In time, Lily stood and picked up the book and walked outside. The sun was setting. The light was soft and the sky was grey blue and the clouds were few.

The fire was burning in a half-barrel close to the barn. She approached her uncle, who stood alone and who gestured at the fire. Lily stepped forward and dropped the book into the flames. It did not burn immediately, for it was tightly bound, and even when it did begin to burn, the interior pages remained untouched, and so her uncle took up an iron rod and prodded at the book and he opened it so that the fire might attack all of it. During that time no words were spoken. There was just the action of her uncle spearing at the pages, and turning them, and offering them to the fire. Then it was finished, and only ashes remained. Her uncle turned and walked back to the house. Lily remained. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she looked for a sign that might perhaps arrive in the physical world around her.

And here the clouds like many dark sheep gone astray, and here the orange sun burning the world, and here the hare that hides from the circling hawk, and here the stretched singing of water-logged frogs, and here the light, and here the dark.

CH: David Bergen reading from Here The Dark. The collection is one of five titles nominated for this year's 100,000 dollar Scotiabank Giller Prize. The winner will be announced on Monday evening on CBC Radio and TV.

[Music]

New Hippocratic oath

Guest: Sean Sweat

CH: About 2400 years ago, the Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates wrote up a code of conduct he believed all physicians should follow. That set of ethical standards became known as the Hippocratic Oath, a pledge that continues to be sworn by medical students as they begin their careers. But over the years, that oath has been written and rewritten to keep up with the time,. After all, swearing to ancient Greek gods might not be the most relevant thing in 2020. And now at the University of Pittsburgh, when a group of first year medical students were tasked with writing their own Hippocratic Oath, they chose to acknowledge victims of police violence and ask doctors to fight racism. Sean Sweat helped write the new pledge. We reached her in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CO: Sean, you're not the first group of medical students to write your own version of the oath, but what's unique about yours do you think?

SEAN SWEAT: So I think what makes our oath unique is that we really boldly address what's going on in society right now, not simply the COVID-19 pandemic and how that has wreaked havoc on a number of minority communities, but also addressing the racial injustice that has been brought to light given the events surrounding Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery. So I think to put it one way is it's both timely and timeless piece.

CO: And as you point out, you actually name Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery -- their names are there. They're enshrined in your oath.

SS: Yes, they are.

CO: And so what is the message you want to send? If you could sum it up, what is it you're saying in your oath?

SS: We were addressing and acknowledging that what it means to be a physician in this day and age is not the same as it was in the past. Of course, we have the traditional Hippocratic Oath, which touches on themes such as doing no harm, respecting confidentiality between patient and physician. And those are fundamental values that we still hold ourselves to. But the role of a physician is even more complex now. It really acknowledges that there are ever changing responsibility that comes with being a physician. And we really wanted to address what does it really mean to be a physician now.

CO: It's interesting when you mention the traditional oath -- the centrepiece of it is, first, do no harm. Which is a very passive idea, isn't it? But it seems in your oath, as you say, it's a call to action to fulfill my duty to patients, to the medical profession and to society. And you also add combating misinformation. What is the call to action that you're making?

SS: As physicians, I really strongly believe that we are leaders in our society and that we can use our roles as physicians to make changes not only in the form of medicine, but beyond. And so just because we address some of the gaps that are present in the medical field, for example, addressing health disparities that continue, addressing the implicit bias that some doctors may not be aware that they have.

CO: What part of this oath resonates with you the most?

SS: One of them is really appreciating patients as unique individuals that they are. And so in of itself, I really wanted to include the explicit wording of understanding each patient's narrative, background and experiences. These, to me, are three distinct aspects of a patient that really needs to be appreciated. With such a diverse patient population nowadays, it's so important to be equipped to treat patients who don't look like you, and it's so important to understand how a patient's unique experiences and challenges affect them, what their day to day is like. Another important thing that stands out to me from the oath is really addressing the gaps in health care that have heavily affected disadvantaged minority communities, and that includes improving access to health care, where everyone, regardless of who they are, is treated with the same quality of care.

CO: A lot of what's in your oath speaks to what we're hearing from other professions and other institutions about, as you mentioned, implicit bias. And a lot of discussion right now about how biases, prejudices, racism is kind of baked in, it's systemic. Do you think it's possible? Do you think that with your approach it's possible to actually change some of the things you're saying that are just really part of the system? Do you think you can change it?

SS: There's multiple levels at which we have to combat that. And I think part of that is holding each other accountable. So if I, for example, see a patient being mistreated, I'm not going to sit there and not say anything or turn a blind eye to it. I'm going to speak on that.

CO: It's interesting that, again, you give the context of this being you're entering medical school in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic. What is it about this historical moment, do you think, that makes this oath more relevant? What is it about right now that you think you're speaking to?

SS: What's really been revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic is the gaps that persist in the health care system like these gaps have been present for years and years and years, but the pandemic has actually allowed us to see and to really more clearly observe just how horrendous these gaps are and how badly they affect minority populations. As an African-American woman, this pandemic has really hit my community very hard. And so African-Americans tend to have higher rates of preexisting conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma that can make a COVID-19 infection lethal. And so you might wonder, why are these preexisting conditions so present in African-Americans? Well, it goes back to lack of access to health care. And I think another important aspect of this pandemic is that take into consideration the various jobs that are considered essential in this time. So grocery store workers, delivery men, bus drivers, most of those positions are held by African-Americans. For many in my community, it comes down to either going into work as an essential worker, and risking exposure or simply not bringing home an income in order to provide for the family. And that's a choice that many have had to make.

CO: What kind of response are you getting from your fellow classmates and particularly your White classmates?

SS: They are inspired by the oath, it is something that they are proud of, and we've gotten positive feedback from the class overall.

CO: Anyone saying they're not going to make that oath or accept it?

SS: No. In terms of reciting the oath, we actually were able to recite our own oath at the end of our orientation week. Many of those who came to hear us read the oath, it brought them to tears and really started an emotional response. Thus far everyone sees the oath as something that's powerful because it is something that they will take to heart.

CO: Well, Sean, I thank you for speaking with us, and I wish you great success in your years in medical school.

SS: All right. Well, thank you.

CH: Sean Sweat is a first year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh. You can find more on the story on our webpage: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Sandra Waterhouse

CH: I can't imagine how much rain or sleet or snow or gloom of night must have been involved, but reporters at a local newspaper in Goderich, Ontario, were recently surprised to get a letter in the office mailbox. It had a three cent stamp on it. It was postmarked May 26th, 1934, and a sticky note attached to the envelope read "Sorry for the late postal delivery." The letter itself was a job application to a long defunct local paper from a woman in town. And it said a lot about what Goderich was like back in the 30s. But it also gave enough clues for Sandra Waterhouse to realize that it was written by her mother. Ms. Waterhouse spoke with the CBC yesterday.

SANDRA WATERHOUSE: It was very exciting to, you know, hear about all this. It's been very exciting for our family. I have a cousin who called me early this past Sunday morning. She had been listening to the CBC, told me that she saw this story and she emailed me and said, could this possibly be your mom? She said, Elliot with two T's is rather not always so. And then Ms. Margaret, she said, how many Margaret Elliott's were there at that time? So this is how I heard about it. And then I contacted Kathleen Smith at the Goderich Signal Star after I had gathered up a little bit of information, told her that my brothers and I were very certain that this was our mom from the writing and so on and from the history that she gave the details in the letter said that she was from Goderich and went to Goderich Collegiate and then she had commercial experience, which I think she perhaps came to London to check for, and then went back to Goderich, which would be when she wrote the letter. Her sister Gwen worked at the Dominion Store, which was mentioned in the letter as a reference, and that all did happen. She did work there. The only thing that we can think is that someone from the signal maybe got the letter was looking over the all the letters for the job interview and just got misplaced. I'm wondering if it was in someone's house. We'd really like to know that. I had never heard of the story, but it was probably something that happened, maybe kind of a minor thing in mom's life. I guess she felt she didn't hear back from them so that it was just something she must have put out of her mind, because we never did hear anything about that. But she always did -- she worked as a secretary in different places. We would like to know where the letter came from. That's the big question, how it got slipped underneath the door at Signal Star. Yeah, my mom would have loved it. She would have been over the moon about it. She was a real Goderich girl. We went several times up there. She always liked it, it was still her home as far as she was concerned.

CH: That was Sandra Waterhouse speaking with the CBC's Liny Lamberink. She was in London, Ontario.

[Music]

Shell

CH: As much of a dark cloud as it's been, this pandemic has had its silver linings: reduced air pollution, a proliferation of so-called care mongering, and for some animal populations a chance to recover in the relative absence of humans. This rare opportunity has been seized in the pincers of hermit crabs in Thailand, so much so that it's really scuttling the local housing market -- not for humans, but for the crabs themselves. These crustaceans are the type that staycation in the vacated shells of other mollusks. But in Mu Ko Lanta National Park, the hermit's are facing a serious shell shortage. And those that have outgrown their current carapace are feeling increasingly clause-tro-phobic. Local authorities say some have resorted to residing inside pop cans and glass bottles, but those authorities are trying not to be crabby about it. Instead, those authorities have asked the public to courier any and all available cone shaped shells to Thailand's Krabi province. The park says about 200 kilograms of shells have been pledged so far. Volunteers will help distribute them next month. And the next thing you know, here come the neighbourhoods.

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November 6, 2020 Episode Transcript

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