Protein in Perspective: Muscle-Centric Health – Dr. Donald Layman

Get ready for a brand new season of Dragon's Den with a new full-time dragon drew Scott from property brothers There's days at eight thirty newfoundland stream now on cvc and cvc gem brought to you in part by a ws This is a cvc podcast Hello, I'm Neil Cooksall. Good evening. I'm Stephanie Skenderas sitting in for Chris Houten. This is as it happens Tonight signing of the times the woman behind a petition to have u.s ambassador Pete Hookster expelled from Canada says his latest accusation of foreign interference is not surprising and even more reason to give him the boot Too close for comfort as Prime Minister Mark Carnie promotes a strategic partnership with Turkey Our guest says there's a laundry list of concerning human rights abuses that also need to be on the agenda Sidecar show a Brooklyn bar owner walks on to a subway car and into a hugely popular online show and then starts cracking wise with Conan O'Brien A wing and a prayer a bird researcher warns some Canadian loon populations are in steep decline and it's likely climate change is to blame Title wave two libraries in northern Manitoba are facing off Quietly and respectfully to find out who can check out the most books and diamonds are for never employees at Madison Square Garden Discover an offer of Nick's championship rings is actually a fishing test the rewarded staff with Cyber security classes not the coveted jewelry as it happens the Friday edition radio that's always a bit suspicious of a cold fish Oh Prime Minister Mark Carnie has his hands full in Turkey with Canada Turkey relations of course and with the continued allegations from US ambassador Pete Hookster that Canada is Interfearing in US elections today once again Prime Minister Carnie dismissed the accusations. He told reporters in Istanbul Quote there is no merit to these claims. So I'll call it out that way Unquote his statement comes after the US embassy in Ottawa circulated a memo accusing multiple Canadian politicians of openly attempting to Influence the US midterms the self-described fact sheet also claimed that Canada is home to the second largest source Of foreign nationals facing voter fraud charges of any country then listed 11 Canadians charged with illegal voting Lee Walker has had enough of Pete Hookster's rhetoric this summer the Canadian woman started a petition calling for the US Ambassador to be kicked out of Canada and now it has over 280,000 signatures. We reached Ms. Walker in Calgary Lee there's there's such an onslaught of Commentary I'll put it that way from the Trump administration that I think it can get to a point where people just Stop listening to it or stop taking it seriously, but were you surprised at all at what Pete Hookster is saying about these allegations of election interference Honestly, I'm not surprised at all. I think it's fully within his character to say something like this The reason I started the petition in the first place was because of the rhetoric he was saying earlier on specifically the first 51st state And just kind of you know Saying that that's a term of endearment from the Trump administration when really a lot of people look at that as a threat as annexation or Hostility, so I'm not surprised at all. Especially this close. I'm leading up to what's happening in the states right now And that's a midterm still it really challenges um every notion of what diplomacy is Even as someone on the outside watching this. I'm not a diplomat obviously, but I wonder for you what it was What it is about the words that Hookster is using that has made you not just angry But but pushed you to keep this going and now speak to us about it Yeah, of course um, so Basically, what really triggered this response for myself was the um again the 51st state rhetoric But then also We just had a referendum here in Alberta and there was allegations of you know the separatists speaking with the state department and allegations that this Centurion project application that leaked voter data was an app that was known by the Trump administration including Pete Hookstra and when all of this kind of went down he just flat out denied it ever happened and then recently the globe and male came out And said that you know this did happen and these are the things they discussed and then the last few days when The embassy released that statement about Canadian interference in the American midterms or American politics I I was just a remarkable Accusation coming from him in my opinion So I basically was like you know if you want to talk about interference, maybe we should start with with the Alberta referendum and what kind of happened there. So are you someone who is usually politically active or outspoken about these kinds of things or is this new for you This is actually quite new for me. I always had an interest in you know listening to the news watching politics But I wasn't the type of person to go out of my way to do Any sort of advocacy and now this just kind of it just you know it just hit the wrong way Initially when I get when I started the petition I didn't expect it to get more than a couple hundred signatures We thought you know it'd get that 500 threshold and then it would move on to parliament and maybe They would have a look at it and discuss it But now it's kind of exploded to that. I think it's at two almost 281,000. So um it's become a movement Yeah, it's the numbers are quite quite staggering sponsored by green party leader Elizabeth May as well your petition is What do you what do you make of how Prime Minister Karni Has been responding so far as our listeners heard he's you know, he's dismissed them again today in a stumble Is that is he going far enough in your view? I think there's a political tightrope that he's walking right now So I think it would be unfair to say that he isn't doing enough I understand that being you know a layer of a country and you're when you're dealing with hostility from your closest ally It's a very touchy subject and you don't want to make sure you're not Um overstepping any boundaries that could potentially make it worse Um, so right now I think I think he's doing the smart thing and Taking it one step at a time. Yes Is your goal really to have hookstrap, you know thrown out of Canada? I mean at the end of the day if that if that was the outcome, I think I would be ecstatic But ultimately, I don't think that's going to be the outcome my At the bare minimum, I'm just hoping that when it gets reviewed by parliament and when they submit that response some type of investigation into American interference Happens and I think I think that's That's enough to ask for if for some reason you know, he does get persona non-grata I think that is an appropriate response as well, but Again, I understand that we are walking that political tightrope and it might not be the best decision And it would be is certainly an extraordinary move for Canada to expel a US ambassador Of course, having said that we are an extraordinary time, so as we've said many many times Uh since the administer this this second Trump administration um Came in What kind of reaction are you getting from from other Canadians? It's quite a big reaction like I look on social media And I'm seeing it shared everywhere and it's it's It's actually crazy honestly like I didn't expect this type of reaction and I didn't really expect this many Canadians to kind of hop on board of this and create a movement out of it and I think a lot of people are really happy that they have this opportunity to just speak up and say something and be able to You know submit their voice to the House of Commons via this petition to really tell our government and and the American government how we feel About what is going on right now? Do you know of Huxstra knows of your petition and you Okay, yes, he actually does he did respond when it was starting to blow up Um, I don't think he mentioned me by name, but he did mention that he was not going anywhere So yes, he definitely knows about it If you were would you sit face to face with him and give him a piece of your mind? Um I probably I think so I would be polite and but I would I would definitely speak my mind and why why I feel the way I do and Why I believe his comments are inappropriate and the way he's acting is you know crossing the line of diplomacy Lee, I'm very glad we could speak thank you for this. Yeah, thank you so much Lee Walker is behind a petition to have US ambassador Pete Huxstra declared persona non-grata. She's in Calgary You Across Australia women in politics are feeling tense on Monday night Australian MP Helen Haynes was attacked outside her office in Victoria Police alleged her attacker deliberately and repeatedly hit her with his car And the suspect is the son of a longtime friend of Ms. Haynes Now the 65 year old politician has had both of her legs amputated and is recovering in hospital. Then in a separate incident, a different man was charged yesterday after he allegedly took none shocks to the office of State MP Hannah Beasley in Western Australia and threatened her and her staff. No one was hurt. Both incidents and their motivations are still under investigation, but fellow politicians, especially fellow women, have been speaking up in the day since about feeling unsafe as public figures. Georgie Purcell is an MP in Victoria's Legislative Council. We reached her in Melbourne, Australia. Georgie Purcell, what do these cases say to you as a woman in politics? These attacks across Australia over the past week have said to me that this is all about worst nightmare coming to reality ever since I was elected four years ago. I have been speaking about the increasing threat on women in public life and certainly being in public life is a challenge for anyone who takes on that great privilege and that role. But for us, there has been a really dark and twisted side of it with misogyny and sexism and violence where so often our public lives are seen as public property. And I've been calling for increased protections around our safety for so long now because over the past year in particular that has really heightened what kind of support or security exists right now. I may think a lot of listeners would think all all elected politicians have some sort of detail or protection. Yeah, look, it does vary across the different levels of representation and it even varies based on whether or not you are in the government or in a minor party like myself. And I think what has scared a lot of people about the horrific attack on Helen Haynes is that she's an independent politician. She doesn't belong to a political party. I know Helen, myself, which has made speaking about this issue that I'm quite well known for over the past week, even more particularly haunting. She is such an incredible person. She is the kindest person in the Australian political system she's loved by everyone and she's been one of the many people who has been calling for a bringing down of that temperature and the political discourse that we're seeing across the world that has now come to Australia. But when it comes to our protections at the federal level where Helen is a member of Parliament and this still happened to her, there are Australian federal police security measures and the ability to report threats or online commentary that might make you fearful for your physical safety. Of course, it clearly has not been enough in order to protect her and other people in politics. For someone like me, I'm in a minor party in the State Parliament and we have me nothing for our protection. I have essentially given up reporting behaviour towards me because it rarely reaches an outcome. What I have done is put changes in place to protect my physical safety. I've changed the way in which I move throughout the world and something that's acutely in my mind is that I have a young baby. I had a baby ten months ago and I often bring her to work with me. So knowing if there was a threat to me it would also be a threat to her. But my partner is actually a federal member of Parliament and something that I've been speaking about is that I actually receive better protections as a state politician by being a family member of his. So that's how I can access that service but most people are not in my unique position. And in fact I'm one of the only people in the entire country who is in that position. You've been outspoken on this issue as you've said before. You released a statement in the aftermath of Helen Haynes' attack. It's still being investigated but you did say it's an act of male violence. What kind of response have you been getting to that statement? I have received a number of threats since putting out that statement. I mean on this statement itself I had someone who I know lives in my community that I've reported before in the past are saying that he wishes it happened to me. I had someone else tell me that I should be scared. And this is the problem is when we're not in setting a really clear standard and we're not acting on it. People just feel emboldened. I know that the men who threaten me and right discussing comments towards me, they know that there's not going to be any outcome to that. They know that I am powerless and therefore they can continue to make me feel unsafe. And either eventually act on it or at the very least chase me out of public life and fundamentally I think that's what they want. They want to get us out of the parliament and take it back to the old days where women weren't out there being those voices that are really critical in the community. Your Prime Minister met with some of his, the women who were members of his caucus this week. He also put out a statement that said in part, quote, this is not just an issue for politicians. Of course, it is an issue for our entire society, unquote. Do you believe the Prime Minister and other male politicians in particular have a responsibility to keep their colleagues, their female colleague safe to prevent these kinds of incidents from happening? Yeah, I would go further. I think male politicians have even more of an obligation to keep us safe. So consistently, it has been us women calling it out while men have remained silent. And when male violence is occurring, it's actually on men to address it as well. In fact, even more so, as I said. And I was talking about this with my partner who is a male politician. I said to him, you see up close every single day when I come home and we have dinner and we talk about the things that have happened to us that day and what people have said to us. And this very real issue to me is a very real issue to you. And he has been out there talking of my experience when he says this. And I wish that we would see more male leaders doing that, I wish I could see the Prime Minister call this male violence because like I said, it is still that regardless of all the circumstances surrounding it. And again, I think it's great that Anthony Albanese has met with the members of his caucus to speak about this, but we need to stop treating it as a partisan issue. We need to be speaking to every woman in public life no matter what political party they're in. In Victoria, the state that I'm in, I'm heading into an election where a month out from our election were all out in our communities and it's impacting our ability to campaign candidates who aren't yet elected. I even less protected and were holding public events or knocking on doors or people like me were actually not doing that at all because we're fearful for our safety. And that also limits our ability to make ourselves accessible to our communities and look like we're representing them, it's hampering public life. And I think that, you know, this attack is horrific and life changing for Helen and were, you know, all holding her in our thoughts, but what we really owe to Helen as well is to act on this, you know, horrific example of violence in our country and make sure that we're doing the things that Helen had actually been calling for herself. Georgie, I'm glad we could speak. I appreciate your time. Thank you for this. Thank you so much for having me on. Georgie Purcell is an animal justice party MP in Victoria. She was in Melbourne, Australia. Just a guy on a subway car with a lot of opinions. It's the premise of subway takes where comedian Karim Rakhma sits down with celebrities and regular people going about their day. The popular interview series sees guests explain their personal opinions and hot takes on everything from statues to plastic surgery. But unlike regular talk shows with a studio audience, subway takes welcomes the odd accidental guest. Riders on the train who interject and interact with Mr. Rakhma and whoever he's interviewing. So when comedian Conan O'Brien was on the show, it wasn't exactly unusual to have a woman pop into the frame. You can go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry about that. Don't worry. Good to see you. How are you? I am good. Are you guys know each other? Yes, we go way back. We were married a long time ago. Not two kids. We got two kids. How are they, by the way? I haven't visited. One's in medical school. The other one's in jail. I'm sorry. I haven't seen any money. Yeah. That's okay. It's okay. I love you. The woman you just heard is bar owner Debbie Shields in a subway takes cameo that has now gone viral. We reached miss shields in Brooklyn, New York. Debbie, what is your relationship status with Conan O'Brien now? I mean, is remarriage in the cards? He walked out on you again on the train. He just did a view and walked off the train. Classified. Debbie. Typical. How are the kids feeling? They're fine. And they're used to not being around for it. It all seriousness. So how are you doing with all of this attention? It's, it's crazy right now. It's really crazy. That's a mixed radio. How's it in New York Times? Ten, ten wins. Internationally? Are they interested too? Yeah. Internationals. Somebody called me from Japan. One, thirty in the morning. Australia. England. We were boys. It's been busy. On that day on the train, did you have any idea what you were walking into? Not at all. I was going to see you. my accountant for my business. And then you did you just see that shock of orange hair and the pasty skin. He would say that about himself. So I feel like I can say that. Well, I'm trying to tell you that's what he says. No, I saw a camera crew. Okay. And when I saw the camera crew, my friend said, Oh, that's Conan O'Brien. I was like, Oh, okay. But I was looking for a seat because I'm always looking for a seat on the train. Priorities. No, I got me a seat and I told him I said, well, you hold the seat. And I'm going to go just go over and say hi. And that's all it took. And you did not miss a beat, a millisecond, even. Are you, have you always been, uh, had that kind of comedic timing? Yeah, I mean, if you give it to me, I'll give it right back to you. That's how it goes. Yeah, that's kind of the New Yorker in you. I would imagine, but you, you were at another level, though. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So was there any, you didn't, you weren't nervous, it didn't seem like it. Were you inside at all nervous? No, I was having a ball. Yeah, he was too. Yeah, we had a good job doing that. You, you were a fan of Conan before. What about if you like, I knew him before, I like his style of comedy. He's witty, he's fast-witted. He's, he's, he's risky, he's risky. I just like him. Did you have any idea about the, the show subway takes in general? I mean, lots of things happen on the New York subway. Obviously, but no, I had, I didn't know anything about that show. Nothing. And so it's really cool to meet a celebrity who's work you admire and that the exchange goes really, really well. Sometimes, you know, it could be not as pleasant. You go about your day, you went to your accountant, and then when, when did you start getting a sense that this was more than this great memory for you, you know, meeting Conan, Tuesday night. Yeah, Tuesday evening. Somebody told me, oh, you're wrong with it. But then Conan, we saw it. I was in my bar and people started showing me. And then Wednesday morning, it went crazy. People were calling me at eight in the morning. Oh, you're all over the end of that. You got five million hits. I was like, oh, my God. Then somebody called me like about 10 in the morning. You're on television. I'm like, aren't Channel five? Then somebody called me. You're on Channel four and like, oh, my God. It was surreal, but that's what I do with people. And even in my bar, the name of my bar's confessions bar, I have comedy on Friday nights. I introduce the host of the time and I really get off on the people. I make them laugh. I talk about their outfits, whatever it is. And they all love me. I like to see people happy. And if I lay my head to rest today, I want people to remember and I made people laugh. Oh, they're sure going to remember. Debbie, you come in at the top of the list. Do you think he's going to drop by? He's been in touch with me. Oh, he's been in touch with me. Yeah. So Karim's team has been in touch with me to do another show with him. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. What would be your dream show Saturday night life? Oh, yeah, I think, I think at least one of the two can arrange, arrange that for you. He's, yeah, I think Conan said he'd do a sitcom with you. Yes, he would. And I would love to do one thing. I would love to do one. What does this tell you about life? Life is funny. You never know where your blessings are coming from. That's why you have to live your life in a certain way. So when the, when the aura of God or whatever you want to see a colleague, when he sees that you're doing your best and you're trying really hard and you're genuine, he always throws you a ball at confessions. So you've got the comedy night you mentioned, are you incorporating this, this new part of your life and your, your ex has been into the bar. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We invented a drink and it's called Baby Daddy O'Brien. We've got whiskey. We're doing a purple sack lemon lime and our blood orange. I need to see him drink that and get drunk on it. I think it would probably take a few. He's pretty tall, right? You'd have to. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Yes, I was surprised when he stood up. It's been a while since you'd see each other understandably. Yeah, yeah, our kids are all grown and everything. Can we expect you to bring your show to Toronto sometime? Oh, that would be fun. I love Toronto. I love Canada. I've been to Canada so many times. I'm sure people would love to see you riding this subway here too, Debbie. Thank you for this. My pleasure, my pleasure, my pleasure. And you just always laugh your ass off. That's a key to life. There you go. Take care, Debbie. My pleasure. Debbie Shields has gone viral for her exchange with Conan O'Brien on the subway. She was in Brooklyn, New York. Okay, I don't know about you, but most of the emails that come to my inbox are nothing that special. And I imagine it's the same for most people, including employees of New York's Madison Square Garden. At least until one message landed in their work accounts late last month. Congratulations, your employee championship ring is here. The message announced and why not? They may be support staff for the NBA championship winning nicks. But of course, they deserve a share of the glory, staring back from their screens, where pictures of the jewel encrusted rings themselves offering two choices, championship gold and garden classic. But what seemed like a slam dunk now has employees crying foul. It turns out the email was a cruel cybersecurity test by the team's front office, which is owned by billionaire James Dolan, anyone who clicked on the link to reserve their ring, instead received an invitation to a mandatory cybersecurity class. It wasn't much better for some of the team's coaching staff. At the team's glitzy banner unveiling on Tuesday, players were handed their bling, while some assistant coaches were left to stand there holding only empty ring boxes in a statement to the athletic team management, responded, quote, we are not disclosing anything about the rings, unquote. Guess that's why the nicks are known for their offense. We're going to take a short break now when we return. Amnesty International says Canada's new partnership with Turkey may be good for trade, but needs to come with some tougher action against the air to on governments, human rights record. Stay tuned. I'm Stephanie Skenderas and I'm Neil Cooksall. Get ready for a brand new season of dragon stand with a new full time dragon drew Scott from property brothers Thursday's at eight thirty new infant land, stream now on CBC and CBC Gen brought to you in part by AWS. At Humana, our Medicare Advantage plans are easy to understand and easy on your wallet, like offering more benefits than you'd get from original Medicare alone and including dental, vision and hearing coverage in every plan. And the best part is every plan has a zero dollar or low monthly plan premium, which makes it easier to save too. So this Medicare planning season plan well with Humana. Learn more at gethumana.com. Humana's a Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO organization with a Medicare contract enrollment any humana plan depends on contract renewal. Mark Carney has called Turkey an exceptional partner. Human rights advocates aren't so sure. This week, the Prime Minister is in Turkey, advancing what he sees as a strategic partnership. Yesterday, Mr. Carney sat alongside Turkish president, Rajep Tayyip Erdogan as the two leaders announced a three year action plan to deepen the relationship between the countries, particularly when it comes to trade, energy and security. But some are watching with trepidation. Mr. Erdogan's government has been scrutinized for its attacks on political and press freedom and human rights. Just last month, the government launched a large scale crackdown on two S LGBTQ+ groups and activists speaking to reporters today. The Prime Minister addressed those concerns. Engagement is not approval. There are very few countries in this world that have the standards of Canada, the rights of Canada, the conviction of Canada. We calibrate our relationships with countries based on a variety of factors. So we need to engage and we do engage because we're engaged. We are able to raise directly with the senior authorities in these countries how we view the world and what our expectations are. Thank you, Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking to reporters in Istanbul earlier today. Milena Biyun is the senior Turkey campaigner for Amnesty International. We reached her in London. Milena Prime Minister Mark Carney saying their engagement is not approval. Do you agree with that statement? It depends on how that engagement took place. Obviously we were not in the room when the question of The LGBTI crackdown was raised by the Prime Minister. It occurred in the context of economic cooperation, strategic trade deals, et cetera. It's a historic visit, obviously. But it occurred in the context of a huge and deepening human rights crisis in Turkey. And I'm choosing my words carefully. It is a crisis when TV stations in the last year were taken off air, for example. Thousands of social media accounts have been blocked. Countless human rights defenders are languishing behind bars. So the raising those concerns must be done very forcefully. We've covered the different aspects, the impact of what the Erdogan government has done and is doing. Is there value, though, in Canada's Prime Minister having Erdogan's ear? Are there levers Canada could pull? There are, of course, levers they could pull, but they have to be willing to pull them. And from the press conference that I actually watched before this interview, I could not see that that was the main concern of Prime Minister Karni, unfortunately. That didn't come across as strongly as I would have expected. When, you know, in the face of human rights violations, the economic and strategic interests should not be the primary concern that would potentially normalize the status quo and actually undermine the Canadian government's commitment to human rights. Human rights apply to every single individual human being around the world wherever they are. And those principles must be front and center of any engagement. He's also a signal the Prime Minister has that these kinds of partnerships are increasingly more important. That's why it's probably happening now. Turkey has wanted this for quite some time. Karni has suggested that Canadians need to meet the world where it is, not where they may want it to be. That's paraphrasing what the Prime Minister has said. What do you make of that framing? I think trade and the rail-politique approach putting human rights in us as a secondary concern is really worrying. It should be at the front and center of any of these discussions and agreements between states, between Canada and Turkey and everywhere else. What could or should Canada be saying? What levers should they be pulling specifically? What realistically could they be doing in your view that would actually change what the Erdogan government has been doing for quite some time? I mean, as I'm missing international, we've been calling on all counterparts of Turkey to call for an end of the repression of LGBTI organizations and human rights defenders, the release of everyone that has been detained, simply for exercising their human rights, the removal of unlawful restrictions on independent media, internet freedom, peaceful assembly, and scores of other human rights concerns that we have in relation to Turkey. Turkey is preparing to host COP 31 in just a couple of weeks. And the world will arrive in Turkey in a context where peaceful assembly is severely repressed. So their activists and campaigners are preparing to march in Antalya. Will they be able to do so without fear, without restrictions? Those are the key questions that should be raised in these bilateral meetings. Canada has many partnerships, economic partnerships with countries where these similar conversations and concerns have come up. Are there any examples you've seen where, even with those kinds of concerns, Canada's role or partnership with those countries has made a positive impact or what they're doing behind the scenes has moved a little? Well, I mean, that's a very good question. I'm not the best place person to answer it. But what I can say is that, you know, Prime Minister Karni said there are very few countries in the world with the principles and commitment to human rights as Canada is. Well, one way of demonstrating it is to, you know, make that message very strongly in context of these bilateral discussions, negotiations, agreements, et cetera, is to ensure that they are at the heart of these agreements. That actually, they are, you know, they're not going to turn our eyes away from what's happening. And Canada is well placed to make those concerns because Canada cares about human rights. And that should be the approach, really. Yeah, I hope it will be in the future. Milena, I'm very glad we could speak. Thanks so much for your time. You're welcome. Milena Bume is the senior Turkey campaigner for Amnesty International. She was in London. There's a quiet battle brewing in Northern Manitoba right now. Two sides, one winner and the countdown is on. Throughout October, which also happens to be Canadian Library Month, the Pa regional library and the Flynn-Flawn Public Library are going toe-to-toe in a kind of library off. The goal to check out more books than the other branch. The prize, a pizza party paid for by the losing library. Here's Lisa Slugowski of the Flynn-Flawn Public Library on whether there's been any trash talk quietly we assume followed by Don Murray Blanchett from the Pa regional library on why libraries are worth your time. Oh yeah, the Pa has said we are going to beat them. We are going to beat them. So I posted that on, I'm like, they called us out. We have we need to win this. Come on. So can you tell me a little bit about how that started? Is there a rivalry between you two now that I don't know about or have this get going? I was actually looking back through annual reports from the early 2010s. And I came across a challenge that they used to do. And they actually used to do a barbecue. So whoever checked out the most books, the other library would go and cook for the other community. We've updated it to just do pizzas because it's October and we don't really want to be standing outside barbecue. So yeah, in a weird way, I think it's like the post office, kind of the center of your community. If you don't have your library, what do you have? If you don't have your post office, what do you have? It's a place for people to come together. It's a safe place for everybody. It doesn't matter. You're a gender, you're a race, whatever the library is, you're safe, quiet place. Come, enjoy, come read. Even if you just need to sit for five minutes and get away from life, we're here. Libraries are not dead. Anything that you'd want to say to readers or anybody out there in the public doesn't necessarily just have to be in fun fun because we go all over the place. Anything you'd want to say. Read books. Check out books from the library. People are living paycheck to paycheck. Come borrow books from the library. If we don't have what you need, we can order it from another library. We can look at purchasing a copy ourselves. We will do whatever we can to get the books that you want to read in your hands. And we want you here. Come visit. That was Flinflon, library administrator Lisa Slugowski. You also heard Don Marie Blanchett, administrator at the Pa Regional Library. They were speaking to CBC Manitoba's Eric West Haver. [MUSIC] The distinctly eerie cry of the moon. Echoing across our nation's lakes as if the water is being haunted by a squad of ghost birds. Or as they describe it on heated rivalry. What kind of a bird makes a noise like that? Alone, stupid Canadian wolf bird. Regardless of your personal opinion on wolf birds, there's no denying the moon is tightly wound to our Canadian identity. We even named a coin after them. But new research suggests, loon populations are on the decline, particularly in the prairie and Atlantic regions. Doug Tozer is a researcher with Bird's Canada. He's also one of the authors of that study. We reached him in Port Rowan, Ontario. Doug, when you hear that signature call. of a loon. What comes to your mind? I think of wilderness, northern lakes, untouched, pristine, northern waters, you know, unpolluted all those things come to mind. And I think that's that's an association that many Canadians have with loons and especially with their call. You know, cottagers, campers, they go north, they're out there recreating on the lakes and that's what they hear. So they associate loons with, you know, having a fun time out in the bush kind of thing. So when did you first realize that the loon populations might be in trouble? Well, we've known from our previous work and that of others for a little while now that declines in common loon chick production were happening in certain regions throughout the species, breeding range, but until this recent study that we just published, we hadn't brought everything together using all of the data we could get from both the US and Canada. And you looked at loon breeding data from more than 3000 lakes as part of that. What did all of that data, all of that work, all of that collaboration reveal? To cut right down to the chase, common loon chick production has declined by 40% on average across the past several decades in 10 to the 12 regions we looked at across the continent. That's really sobering. It's yeah, sobering and staggering to my ears and I'm certainly not doing this kind of research so when you look at that data and those results, I mean, how does that hit you? I think we knew we were going to see declines and we were expecting sort of, you know, depressing results going into this, but we weren't quite floored by just how sweeping the declines are across the board. We weren't quite ready for that. Why is it happening? Well, that's the hundred billion dollar question, so to speak, isn't it? And there's literally dozens of factors that influence the number of chicks that common loons produce, you know, you've got habitat degradation, human disturbance, pollution, disease, so on, and so forth. And many of those maybe even all of them may be at play here. The consensus reached by the co-authors of our study is that the biggest issue across most of the regions is probably climate change and the biggest pathway is probably that on lakes where these birds breed. There's evidence that due to climate change, the water is getting murkier, less clear over time. And that's happening due to a number of complicated reasons, but especially due to more rain washing, extremely small-sized debris into lakes, which makes the water darker and darker over the years. And because loons are visual predators that catch fish under water to feed to their chicks, the darker water makes it harder for parents to find those fish and as a result, there's less food being fed to chicks and the chicks don't survive as well. And if there is further decline, they're not endangered right now, but if they were to become endangered, what is the knock-on effect of all of that? Well, I mean, the first thing that comes to my mind is we'd be losing like a big part of Canada. I mean, 94% of breeding common loons reside in Canada. Like that's huge Canadian responsibility. Like this is, you can think of this as one of our birds. It's about as Canadian a bird as you can get. And there's that popularity and the feeling of importance of this species that people associate with the North, with Canadian wilderness. I mean, it's almost like we'd be losing part of our Canadian identity. Like that sounds pretty harsh and maybe that's going a bit too far, but this species packs a bigger punch, I think, with most people, most Canadians, and Americans too, for that matter, than most of your other bird species. And that's going to really hurt if they start to really disappear. And that's what we're starting to see now. How close to, you know, getting to endangered status, are they, would you say? Well, that's hard to put an estimate on. I mean, don't get me wrong. There's still a lot of loons out there, but these rates of decline that we've identified in this recent study, we definitely need to get on this. You can avoid getting to that point. In this study, we looked at the number of chicks they produce, but we have other monitoring programs that give us information about the total number of loons nesting loons out there across the landscape. And like loons are really long lived. Some of them live to be 30. Many of them live into their tweens or into their 20s. And so you can have a reduction in the number of chicks they're producing, but you don't see fewer adults for several years later. There's a lag because they're so long lived. But we're now starting to see hard data showing that there's fewer nesting adults out there too. And we're hearing it from our volunteers and we're hearing it from the public. I see fewer and fewer loons. We don't have loons nesting on our lakes. What's going on? The lake is different. People are worried and I think we should be. There's things we can do to help here. If we're right, and climate change is the big reason behind the declines, then we need to address climate change now. There's also various additional things we can do, things like use nontoxic lead-free fishing tackle to dispose of fishing line and other plastics responsibly slow down and steer clear of loons while you're out on the water. Loons may not be able to escape the path of your boat or I've seen this. When I've been out on lakes, adults get separated from their chicks, really small chicks and a herringull or a raven swoops down and just picks them off like potato chips. And of course, like all the organizations who contributed data to our recent study, nearly all of them have volunteer opportunities as well for monitoring students. Thanks for this Doug. You're very welcome. Doug Tozer is a researcher with Birds Canada. He was in Port Rowan, Ontario. In just the past few weeks, student protests have erupted in several countries from France and Spain to Albania and Greece. In Serbia, the strength of a student movement is about to be tested on a whole new level. This weekend, the country is preparing to vote in a snap election, one that has been characterized as a referendum on Serbia's future. And emerging as a serious contender is a list of 250 candidates known as the student list. The candidates themselves are not students. They're a mix of professors, scientists, workers and activists. But they have been rigorously vetted by a collective of young people, vowing to do away with what they see as rampant corruption. And now, the student list is emerging as a real electoral threat to right wing populist leader Alexander Vuchich. Philip Balloonovich is a research fellow at the University of Belgrade where he studies social movements. That's where we reached him. Philippe, I know you were just in class with your students the last lecture before Sunday's vote. What was class like? It was unusual because everyone is talking about the following Sunday and we're trying to teach and to talk about theory, but somehow it soon gets applied to what is happening to us. I teach social movements. So it was interesting like it was the whole year. How would you describe overall this moment politically in your country? Politically, I think it's a pivotal moment for democratic practice in general, not only in Serbia, but beyond it. They started with this practice of direct democratic decision making and they stick to it until this day. So they are in general essentializing the democratic process. We're talking at the global level often about democratic deficit of our governments and decision making in general. But what they did, they tried to practice democracy as it should be. They motivated people to participate, not only students, but all other groups of the population. And they were inspiring each other and encouraging each other to keep on. So I would describe the whole process as a democratic experiment for now beyond comprehension because I'm still struggling to conceptualize it using the old conceptual tools. We need something new. Well, it's remarkable to put it mildly. To remind our listeners, this student movement really started to take hold in 2024. There was a deadly collapse at the Novisa train station. People were angry about that. They felt it was the result of corruption and negligence. But what is notable about what these young people were able to do to channel that initial anger into very robust political organizing? I mean, this is people often talk about the Gen Z wave of mobilizations across the world. And there is indeed something peculiar happening. We have witnessed many waves of mobilization and contestation of authoritarian rules of the U.S. Democratic governments, etc. But I think for the first time now we see how the Gen Z functions in the political arena. So what we can see in France or in Albania, the United States and elsewhere in the world, we can see that how youth and the Gen Z protests and what they are unhappy about. Serbia offers this, I would say fresh example, how Jay-Z does politics. So they did this transformation from a social actor to the political actor quite fast. And it's striking what they do in the electoral campaign, the way they conducted campaign. It's really unusual. For two years they managed not to come up with a phase, let alone a leader of the movement. And this is a book example of how horizontal political organization and direct democracy looks like. Our listeners heard a little bit about the candidates on the student list and how they were chosen. They're not students. They come from all sorts of different walks of life. But can you tell our listeners a little bit more about that? I mean, how did they put that list together and pick candidates that are actually viable and could be good in these roles? Yeah. There are several university centers in the country which are all compound of various faculties. So every faculty had a right to propose two names for the student list. And it was a really tough process of decision-making because they also applied this veto power. So every university had a right to veto names that are proposed by some other university. Then the other university provides a reply to this argumentation and then they discuss it all together. You'll be supporting that list when you go to vote? Absolutely. Absolutely. How is victory measured on Sunday then? What is a win for this list and this movement? This is a more difficult question because it's parliamentary elections and the political system, the electoral system is, I mean, it depends on the proportion of seats they take. Poles are giving more or less the same or very similar numbers to both the student list and the government. What the student list did, they marginalized other opposition political parties which all, most of them actually supported the student list. So they're not running. So we're talking about the absolute dominance of the student list in the political life at the moment. I'm afraid I cannot say now what will be the result of the elections. But the enthusiasm is quite high and the atmosphere is actually of a referendum type. Philippe, I'm very glad we could speak. Thank you for this. You're welcome. Thank you. So small, there are only around 41,000 people living in the country which is nestled in the mountains between Switzerland and Austria and so when a petition in the country received more than 5,000 signatures, there was a good chance it was going to reach the country's parliament. The Citizens Initiative, as it's called, was to bring Lichtenstein's abortion laws in line with their European neighbors and legalize abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The initiative passed through the parliament, but this week Lichtenstein's hereditary ruling monarch, Prince Aloise, vetoed the law. Gabriella Alvarez-Humel is an activist with Freestenlucin Lichtenstein, a group that pushed for the changes. We reached her in Valenstadt, Switzerland. Gabriella, what kind of access to abortion is there right now in Lichtenstein? Right now, abortions in Lichtenstein are only allowed in very limited circumstances, for example when the woman's life is at risk or if the pregnancy is a result of rape. And also since 2015, women from Lichtenstein are allowed to go outside of the country to have an abortion, so they are legally permitted. And when people go outside the country to access abortions, what kinds of costs? Are we talking about? So, they have to pay themselves, the health insurance is not covering it for Lichtenstein's. It's around 700 to 2500 euros. We use Swiss francs, but that's more or less the same, so we have an idea. And yes, that's what they have to pay out of pocket in the moment. So if they don't have the money, they don't get the abortion to do that. So given that kind of access since 2015, why was it important for you and your colleagues to push for this next step? I mean, still Lichtenstein has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, and the stigma that taboo is really big when you know you live in a country where this is forbidden, where the prince is making sure it is forbidden. So help our listeners understand, perhaps it's a different system. You hinted at it already. There's the approval and parliament, but then these executive powers, many of them that fall under the prince. How do things work there? When a new law comes into effect, you know, from either the voters or parliament or government, the prince always has the power to veto any new law, any new bill. So that's actually kind of a very extensive power. And I think that makes him also the most powerful monarch in Europe. The prince had threatened to use the veto power that he has on abortion legislation before. Did you have any hope that he was going to do something different this time? I mean, yes, actually yes, he announced it again this time as well. But you know, we live in a monarchy on a democratic basis as we call it. So we would have hoped that, you know, the people's votes and the partyman's vote would, you know, mean be able to make the prince maybe a revise his announcement. But obviously that wasn't really taken into account. What will your organization and your supporters do next? There is a protest plans tomorrow in the capital's fatotes and that's kind of the first thing we're doing. I mean, we were really surprised that the veto happened this week. So this is kind of the first move we're doing and yeah, what comes next, we will see. Why do you think it happened this week? I don't know. The question you would have to ask the prince. He thought it would happen later that he would take more time with it. Yes, I mean, on Tuesday we were at the castle visiting him, laying out all the arguments of the initiative, talking to him and he sounded as if he would take more time to think about it and he didn't tell us in that moment that he would announce his veto the same day just a few hours later. You have that kind of gut punch, but then also the victory as you said in parliament, what does that tell you about how things are changing or not in your country? Does it feel like it's a different moment that things even with this setback might shift? I think we were able to show that the people of Liechtenstein were really standing behind the initiative, I mean, yeah, we had those 5,000 signatures. We had back up from the parliament, there was a representative. that showed that over 70% of the people in Liechtenstein supported the initiative, so actually, in this case, I would really have to say that the people of Liechtenstein would have liked to legalize abortion and there was one man against it. Gabriella, I'm very glad to speak with you. Thank you for making time for us. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I really appreciate the interest in our small country. We reached Gabriella Alvarez Huma in Valenstadt, Switzerland. You've been listening to The As It Happens podcast. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 after your world tonight. And of course, also listen to our show online at cbc.ca/aih or on the cbc listen app or, of course, wherever. You get your podcasts. I'm Niko Ksoll. And I'm Chris Houten. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca/podcasts.