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The AIH Transcript for July 11, 2017

Hosts: Laura Lynch and Karen Gordon

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

LAURA LYNCH: Hello, I'm Laura Lynch.

KAREN GORDON: Good evening, I'm Karen Gordon sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

KG: Tonight:

LL: Not acquitting themselves as well as she'd like. After yet another resignation from the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, a Manitoba grand chief says it's time to restart the whole process.

KG: The Russo files. Donald Trump Jr. admits to meeting with the Russian government connected lawyer, saying he quote, “Love it” if the information she promised could help haul down Hillary Clinton.

LL: Sleeping with one eye open. With fires blazing in all directions, a B.C. woman says she's safe for now, but worried about where the flames may turn next.

KG: Introducing the boy band to its inner farmhand. A Nova Scotia songwriter says he knew he had a hit on his hands, but he did know become the Backstreet Boys first big foray into country music.

LL: Where the misfiled things are. Maurice Sendak’s estate discovers a forgotten manuscript hidden amongst his papers, sending the books co-author paging through memories of writing with his very dear friend.

KG: And… hosted on his own petard. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tries out behind the mic of a sports radio station. But callers haunt him with the recent past, when he set his backside on a state beach after closing it to the general public. As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio working hard to get to the bottom of this.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: MMIWG resignation, Donald Trump Jr., Backstreet Boys song

MMIWG resignation

Guest: Sheila North-Wilson

KG: Marilyn Poitras has resigned as commissioner for the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Ms. Poitras wrote to the prime minister to say that she could no longer accept, quote, “the process in its current structure.” Five other staff members had already stepped down. But, just last week, Chief Commissioner Marion Buller held a press conference offering assurances that the inquiry was on track. Today, Indigenous and Northern Affairs minister Carolyn Bennett was asked if the inquiry was doomed to fail.

SOUNDCLIP

CAROLYN BENNETT: I think that you know I took the concerns to the commissioners yesterday. I met with them because of the concerns and particularly the concerns around the resignation. So I heard from them the passionate description of their work, the vision, the values, the work plan, the research plan and their commitment to be able to get the interim report done on time. So how we move in a results-based commission to the final report this is hugely important and you know I think that they are committed to do this work. The most important thing is families, a lot of the families are saying to me — calling me — and saying this has to continue. We've waited 30 years for this. Please let the commission continue its work.

KG: That was Indigenous and Northern Affairs minister Carolyn Bennett earlier today. Sheila North-Wilson is the Grand Chief of Northern Manitoba First Nations. We reached her and Norway House, Manitoba.

LL: Chief North-Wilson, today sees another resignation from the inquiry, this time a commissioner. What do you think is going on?

SHEILA NORTH-WILSON: Well, I think it just shows a level of bumbling that's happening within the commission's work and the need for a restart for the inquiry. There's a lot of internal turmoil that's not being addressed and there's clearly a lack of leadership that is hindering the process. And grassroots people themselves were not consulted. So those are huge problems.

LL: What do you mean when you're calling for a restart?

SNW: I think we need a new lead commissioner, one that is chosen and at least you know spoken for or endorsed by grassroots people. The ones that brought this to a national election level and the ones that fought for the last 30 years to get to the point where we are. So I think we need to see the restart whether there's delays or not. There's too many things at stake for it to fail.

LL: What is the problem that you have with the Chief Commissioner of the inquiry Marion Buller?

SNW: I don't have any issue with her personally, but I think that there is a lack of leadership on her part. It's evidenced by the people that are leaving the commission. I don't know her personally and I'm sure she's brilliant and probably even way smarter than I am. But at the heart of it all, I don't think she has the endorsement by the families who care about this issue this much. And also, I don't know she has the heart for the issue the way that a lot of other people I know would and do have heart for it.

LL: You talk about the families, you heard the minister just say that she is hearing from families as well and she says they are telling her that they want this commission to go ahead. So you say you're hearing from families as well, what are they telling you?

SNW: Well, I think all of us wanted to go ahead. I'm not saying halt it and end it; I'm saying that we need to restart it with a new commissioner. And what I'm hearing from families is a level of frustration and people wanting to boycott it and leave the process. But I and many others are encouraging families to stick with it and to have patience and to give it the benefit of the doubt. But it's become clear that it's harder to do that and we need to signal a restart to the families that are concerned to show that we are listening and we are paying attention to what their needs are.

LL: Why are people wanting to boycott?

SNW: Because they don't feel is going to be effective. They don't feel that they're being consulted in the process, so it's hard for them to trust in the process that doesn't include what they see as a solution.

LL: I’m trying to get a handle on specifically what you're talking about. Is it the number of hearings that have or haven't been scheduled? Is it the outreach to people? What are your specific concerns?

SNW: Laura, it’s all of that. There's lack of communication. There's lack of consultation with the grassroots and they should have been helping the design of the terms of reference for example I know one big area is policing they wanted that in there, many, many families did. And that's not in there at all. So you know we keep going and we hope that the policing issue would come out anyway. But you know this is getting to be too much that the terms of reference don't exactly reflect all of the issues that are of concern. And now we're seeing a bumbling group of commissioners that seem to be battling more internal turmoil than anything else.

LL: When you bring up the terms of reference that has been an issue since the very beginning of the inquiry. So are you suggesting that has been doomed to fail from the start?

SNW: Well, it's certainly starting to look like that. I think a lot of us had given the commission work and the government the benefit of the doubt that it was going to work out because we all fought hard to get us to where we are. But now, it's becoming clear that it was flawed and that we need to figure out a way to circle back and start again before it's too late.

LL: Some of these families have been pushing for an inquiry for years and years. Even with what you're suggesting with a restart that could put things on pause for quite a long time, so I'm wondering how they're feeling watching everything unfolding now?

SNW: Well I think you're on a set of breaking hearts all over again. There was a lot of sighs of relief when the commission was called. And I think some of us put our guard down and hope said the OK, the officials will help us deal with this issue and start addressing the root causes of it. But hearing nothing and not having any communication from the commission and then seeing people leaving and hearing of internal turmoil, it just created this level of mistrust and you know throwing our hands up in the air saying it's not going to work. But you know there are many others that are crying and it to work. I think everyone wants it to work and we just wanted to respect the role of the grassroots people that got us here and we need to incorporate what their views and wishes are.

LL: short of having Marian Buller resign, is there anything that the commission can do in the coming days and weeks that would make you change your mind?

SNW: unfortunately no, I think the trust and respect as the leader for the commission is gone. I mean at the very least she could have found a way to introduce herself to help us to understand where they were coming from, but right now we don't. We don't know if they have a heart for this issue? And I'm glad that the ones that have met them feel a little differently. But the rest of us — ground zero of where all these missing and murdered women are being taken from — we need also access to that and we need to be reassured that there right leadership in the commission.

LL: So just to be clear, if the consultation with the grassroots doesn't happen, if the terms of reference don't change if the Chief Commissioner doesn't step down, what will be the fate of the inquiry?

SNW: That's a good question and I wish I had the answer to that. I just hope that the powers that be listen to what the growing voices are. I know there are meetings across the country of grassroots people talking about this issue. They'll be talking about it well into the evening and coming up with their own solutions. So we're going to hear those in the coming days. But at the very end I think the common denominator is we want it to work, but we have to make it work for grassroots First of all.

LL: Chief North-Wilson, thank you.

SNW: Thank you, Laura.

LL: Goodbye.

SNW: Bye. Sheila North-Wilson is the Grand Chief of northern Manitoba first nations. We reached her in Norway House Manitoba.

[Music: Ambient]

Donald Trump Jr. emails

Guest: Brett Di Resta

“If it's what you say, I love it.” That's what Donald Trump Jr. wrote in an e-mail last summer. The U.S. president's son was responding to what seemed like a tempting offer. He'd been told that a lawyer with connections to the Russian government had information that to incriminate Hillary Clinton. That e-mail, and others, were released by Donald Trump Jr. today via Twitter. It comes after days of revelations about a meeting he had with that Russian lawyer in June of last year. Brett Di Resta is an opposition researcher for Democratic campaigns. We reached him in Bethesda, Maryland.

LL: Mr. Di Resta, Laura Lynch: Donald Trump Jr. released these emails today in order to be what he called "totally transparent." Do you believe him?

BRETT DI RESTA: No. If he wanted to be totally transparent he would have released them a couple days ago, not after it appeared he had told several mistruths.So it seems highly unlikely that he wanted to be transparent.

LL: What do you think his motivation was?

BDR: I think he's trying to get out front of a terrible story. You know for months the Trump people have been saying that this was a witch hunt. The idea that this whole collusion idea was just a hoax, a witch hunt, democrats was sore losers. And now there's verifiable evidence that everything they said up until now was wrong. So I think they're really trying to get out in front of a story and shape it as best they can.

LL: Let's dig into these e-mails a little more we know the New York Times has been reporting for days that Donald Trump Jr. had this meeting with a Russian lawyer and that he was promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. What more do the e-mails tell us?

BDR: Well, I think they tell us a little more because in the beginning he said he didn't know who this person was and he didn't know what the meeting was about. Now, just in reading the e-mails, we know that he was lying that that clearly wasn't the case, that he knew that in fact this was about Hillary Clinton and that he knew he was meeting someone who was working for the Russian government. So I think just for logistical purposes, we know that everything he's been talking about prior to this moment is untrue. I also think it tells us that they were willing to do whatever it takes to win.

LL: Where do you see that?

BDR: Just in general if a foreign government comes to you and says I have information on your opponent, as Senator Graham has said today, the answer to that is no. But yet, Donald Trump Jr. said not only great, he said I you know I love this and I hope we can get it out in late summer. That to me tells me that they were willing to do anything to win, even if that meant partnering with a country that is not friendly to the United States.

LL: But you know talking about doing anything to win, you're an opposition researcher, that's your job. Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black?

BDR: What we do is we get all information that is publicly available that means anything that any member of the public can get their hands on: newspaper articles, documents that are available at county courthouses. So that information is not provided by a foreign government hostile to the United States. That is provided to any member of the public. And I think there's a huge difference between opposition research and spying. One of which is a traditional political constituency and another is treason. So I don't think it's pot calling the kettle black. I think there's a massive difference.

LL: But if someone contacted you to say they wanted to me to discuss incriminating information they said they had about a political opponent wouldn't you accept the meeting?

BDR: No, I think there are a number of things that you would do before you took the meeting. One, you would want to know who this person is? You would do research. You would never take that meeting blind. I've been on a number of campaigns, both as an on the ground researcher and as a consultant. I have never taken a blind meaning to accept information because you don't know where the information came from. And researchers have been fired for much less. I know people who've been fired for getting information that's not publicly available. So you're very careful about what you're doing because anything like that can be harmful to a campaign. Just holding that kind of information could be harmful to the campaign. So I don't think you just randomly take a meeting blindly.

LL: When do you take a meeting? You say you've done the research, what is acceptable to you if somebody does pass your test and say they have incriminating information?

BDR: Well, first of all, you want to know what the incriminating information is. I don't think you just randomly say oh, I have incriminating information. What's it about? How did you come to get it? Because again, it's that information stolen you don't want that information. That's not something that you can have because that gets your campaign in trouble. So I think there are a lot of ways to do this without blindly rushing in and just accepting that kind of information.

LL:What does it tell you that Paul Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager at the time, was actually at the meeting?

BDR: It tells me that there's a lot more to this story. Besides the candidate, the busiest person on a campaign is a campaign manager. The idea that in the middle of the day, Paul Manafort would take time to go sit in a meeting without knowing exactly what the meeting was about and who he was meeting with seems like utter fantasy. So I believe there's more to this story. I believe we will find out that there was more information that was told to Manafort and Trump JR. and Kushner. Otherwise I can't imagine those busy individuals would take the time out of their day just to have a random meeting.

LL: But they're all saying that the meeting didn't go anywhere and that the information they were promised didn't materialize.

BDR: Right. Well, they also said that they never had a meeting with the Russians. And they also said that when the meeting happened, they didn't know it was with the Russian government and it wasn't negative. As we've gone on, we found out that their initial denials don't tend to hold a lot of water.

LL: The lawyer involved also says she was not an agent of the government, she does have ties, she knows people in the government, but she was not an agent of the Russian government.

BDR: But that's not what the e-mails say. I believe the e-mails actually paint her as a government lawyer. And again, every step of the way there have been initial denials and every step away once we've gotten more information, those denials have fallen away. So I don't think we can take anything they're saying right now at face value.

LL: We also know that the president is distancing himself from this, saying he knew nothing about this meeting. What do you think about that?

BDR: You know, it's possible that he knew nothing about it. But what does that say that his campaign manager and two most trusted advisers were holding a meeting with a foreign nation and didn't bother to tell him? Either he is running an organization that he's out of the loop of, or he knew everything and he's lying and he's involved. Either way, I don't think it takes a flattering picture of Donald Trump.

LL: There are some are saying this e-mail is the smoking gun and it proves collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. What do you think?

BDR: What I do think is it undermines the credibility of all their arguments to this moment. Like I said, they have been arguing for months that this was a witch hunt, a hoax, put up by the Democrats because they're sore losers. And all those arguments now fall away. So whether it's collusion or not, I think this warrants further investigation. And I think the amount of credibility that the Trump administration has in this investigation is practically nil at this point.

LL: Mr. Di Resta, thank you for your time.

BDR: Thank you very much for having me.

LL: Goodbye.

BDR: Bye.

KG: Brett Di Rest is an opposition researcher for Democratic campaigns. He was in Bethesda, Maryland. If you want to listen to this interview again, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient]

Backstreet Boys song

Guest: Gordie Sampson

KG: It's been a while since the Backstreet Boys, those 90s heartthrobs, ruled the charts. But if you listen to country music radio stations lately, you'd know that Backstreet’s back. The boys have pivoted to the country music scene with a track called “God, Your Mama, and Me,” performed along with country duo Florida Georgia Line. It turns out Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Gordy Sampson wrote that track. But until recently, he had no idea the Backstreet Boys had picked it up. We reached Mr. Sampson in Ingonish, Nova Scotia.

LL: Gordie, how did you discover that the Backstreet Boys were singing your song?

GORDIE SAMPSON: Well, I found out on Instagram, to be honest with you. I was on my phone and I opened my Instagram, and saw a post from somebody in Florida Georgia Line’s management company. I think the first post was like Backstreet’s back, so they weren't spelling it out. They were just kind of giving us a little teaser at first. So I called my other writer and said does this mean what I think it means? And then we found out that yeah, it does. You know when I first got to Nashville you would often find these things out just through you know fellow publishers or people that are in the industry. But nowadays everything is pretty wrapped up. You know the labels want to keep everything a secret so that everything makes a big splash when they release the news. So sometimes, as a writer, you know you're getting the news along with everyone else.

LL: What was your reaction?

GS: Oh, it's very excited. I mean it's just a chance to be a huge single because you got a pop artist involved with a fiercely-selling country artist. I mean so many things are possible: it could cross over into the pop charts and that's a whole kind of other income stream. We knew it was going to roll out a little different than your average country song.

LL: Yeah, Backstreet Boys are a bonafide boy band; they're not a country act…

GS: Well, they’re from Orlando, Florida, so that kind of counts, doesn’t it?

LL: Well, you tell me! How are diehard country fans feeling about it?

GS: It’s been really accepted wonderfully. I was really surprised. And you know, the demographic that listens to country music now is a certain age that's kind of grew up with these guys being their teen idols, you know? So in that sense, it just made the whole throwback part of it really makes sense.

LL: They grew old as the band grew old. And you came to this moment of fate for yourself and your song.

GS: Yes.

LL: It must have been surprising to you though?

GS: It really was, yeah. Yeah, it was very surprising. Never would have predicted in a million years.

LL: This track, “God, Your Mama and Me,” has 19 million views on YouTube. It's playing on every country radio station out there. Tell us about the song?

GS: It was a title that my co-writer Josh Kear came in the room with. So usually we write in groups of three, so somebody will have kind of a title that beats the other two ideas, that's how it works. And he just had this great title and it's one of those ideas for a song that before you even start writing a word everything you need to know about how to write it is sort of there in the title. My role in the song was kind of as a producer-writer, so I spent a lot of time making the demo, playing the guitar parts and all that stuff.

LL: It's funny; I would have thought that the song would have gone song then title, not the other way around. Does that happen often?

GS: No, it's usually title first. It’s not the only way to write a song, but it's just like one of the one of the ways you start a song is by knowing what it's called first and working from there.

LL: I’ve heard the song, but for listeners who haven't, what is the song about?

GS: Oh, it's not a story song. It's just a feeling — an emotion — about being loyal to somebody and promising to be to be good to them. And kind of comparing God and their momma in the love department, I suppose to the person in love.

LL: Why do you think it's become such a huge hit?

GS: I just think the message is right for the people that buy that kind of music, you know? The Backstreet Boys are a feature on the song; the artists is actually Florida Georgia Line. They are one of the biggest touring bands in the genre, if not the biggest. So we do have that one on our side. I mean I think that band in particular is really trying to make a statement with songs that have real lyrics that touch the soul a little bit more than maybe their other records. That's the kind of songs that the group that I hang out with write. We just got really lucky that they heard a demo.

LL: You actually have written hundreds of country songs. Some of them do make it big, others just don't. Can you tell right away after finishing a song whether it's going to be a hit or not?

GS: No, absolutely not. But we just treat every one like they are. I mean there's a lot of songs that could have been hits, but the right person didn't hear it. Like I had it a number one years ago called “Jesus Take the Wheel,” that's the song that was pitched to a couple of artists and they passed on it. You know they said nice song, but no, not for me. The song has to suit so many things. It has to suit the singer. First of all, it has to suit the plan for the band and so many things are at play that you know there's a lot of luck involved and a lot of strategy too.

LL: How often are you hearing songs that you wrote played on the radio?

GS: Gosh, it kind of comes in waves. For me, you go through periods of time where you're not that active on the radio. I just came through a spell where I didn't have songs on the radio for a while and then for whatever reason, you get one and it seems to be a little bit exponential. Then you get another one behind it and you know I've got a couple of things coming out now. So you just have to kind of be patient and ride those waves as best you can. It’s easy to get frustrated and kind of down on yourself and start changing your employment plans. But I've done it long enough now to have more patience about it and you might just learn patience a little bit as you get a little older.

LL: One thing I am curious about as you get older and more experienced when you do hear one of your songs on the radio, do you still get that little kind of thrill running through you? That feeling of I wrote that!

GS: That’s why we do it! There's nothing like it! It's the moment you live for is hearing the song on the radio for the first time. It was just this weird little idea that could have been nothing, but now it's something and it's getting such a reaction from people. People are dancing to it and singing it at a wedding and it's pretty magical.

LL: On the opposite side of things, have you ever listened to somebody maybe covering one of your songs and it just made you cringe because you thought their performance was so bad?

GS: That's my favorite question you've asked in this interview and the answer is yes. But the funny thing is you're not prepared for that. You know there was one occasion when I first got to Nashville where the artist basically said we've cut your song, come over and hear it. And this is like a celebrity that somehow got my number and I was already just losing my mind. I was so excited. I went in there and put my head down and they pressed play and it was the most awkward moment ever because the song was like kind of misrepresented. So there are a couple of those, but I'd say 3 per cent of the time that's what happens and the other 97 per cent of the time are golden moments.

LL: That's not bad, Gordie.

GS: Not too bad.

LL: Care to share the name of the artist?

GS: No.

LL: All right. Gordie, it's been really interesting. You're sounding a little bit windy down there in Ingonish. And so I'm going to let you go. Thanks very much for talking to us.

GS: All right, I appreciate it. Good to talk to you. Thank you.

LL: Bye bye.

GS: All right, bye.

KG: Gordie Sampson is a singer-songwriter from Nova Scotia. He wrote “God, Your Mama, and Me” by Florida Georgia Line.

Part 2: BC fires update, Maurice Sendak book

BC fires update

Guest: Jan Silverton

KC: Fires continue to burn across British Columbia. Officials estimate that 14,000 people have been displaced, and that number could rise. Jan Silverton was told to leave her home in the 105 Mile area a few days ago. She's been staying at a friend’s, wondering when she'll be able to go home? We reached Ms. Silverton by Horse Lake, BC earlier today.

LL: Ms. Silverton, you're safe for the time being. How are you feeling?

JAN SILVERTON: A lot of anxiety. We have friends that are caught in the middle of this and we can't get to them. And it's really difficult.

LL: What is the thing you are most concerned about?

JS: The lack of knowing what's going on. We know, because we've heard via the grapevine, that our house is still safe and we are in the 105 Mile area. And it's other homes of other friends and people that we know in Lac la Hache that can't go north and they can't come south. And they've got fires starting around them and that's the biggest concern.

LL: What about where you are right now? What are conditions like? What do you see? What do you smell?

JS: We cannot see the fire. We’re approximately 13 kilometers away from 100 Mile House. East-southeast of 100 Mile and it will all depend on the direction of the wind. Unfortunately, as we all know, nature is in control.

LL: Is there any smell of smoke around you?

JS: Yes, there is. Our distance of vision is actually quite far for being so close to the fire. And we actually took the dogs out for a walk just to get some normalcy with the dogs. And I would say we're the fortunate ones of the amount of smoke.

LL: Can you take us back to that moment on Friday, when you learned you had to leave? What happened?

JS: Well, I was actually up in Wiliams Lake and I was talking to my partner, who said we were on alert. And he heard that we were going to be evacuated. I got home as quickly as I could. By the time I got home, we had maybe a half-an-hour to get out.

LL: With half-an-hour what did you do?

JS: It's funny you would ask that. That's when we went into panic mode. We had already packed a lot of things into our motorhome and we grabbed silly things. He got here and realized he had brought the vacuum, but no parts to the vacuum. Your head becomes just a mush, so we strongly suggest to anybody who's on alert: be ready now. Make sure you have your insurance papers, make sure that you have turned your gas off and do all the essential things. Don't worry about all the things that are materialistic; they can be replaced.

LL: But you've got the dogs?

JS: We got the dogs and we're very fortunate. And if you can get your pets out… people who have horses and cattle and sheep, that's the awful part that we think about because we have lots of friends up here that have that. And trying to get them out is impossible, totally impossible.

LL: You say your place is still standing?

JS: Yes. I don't know if it is now? It was this morning.

LL: And you have you been back to see it since you left?

JS: No. We tried to get back Sunday and we couldn't get in. My partner did get back in Saturday, we had to leave Friday, he got back in Saturday to get some medication. And while he was there, he took all our recycling bins and threw everything from the freezer and the fridge in the recycling bins and we have stored it here. And if our power goes off here, we are out of here immediately.

LL Yeah, I'm going to ask you about that next. But I did your partner tell you what 105 Mile looked like when he went back?

JS: It looked quite well at that time. Now this is Saturday morning, we were vaccinated Friday, and he said there wasn't even much ash there even though the fire had broken the ridge I would say as the crow flies a kilometer away.

LL: Is 105 Mile out of danger at this point?

JS: No. And, as I say, Laura, we don't know. All we hear is what we hear on the radio and your radio station is the best for us as far as information. And we hear Al Richmond down here, who is the CRD in the area, and that's all we have. And that's the sad part. We don't have a town anymore. It's shut down, so we have no information, no local radio, nothing.

LL: Any sense of when you’ll be able to go home?

JS: No. Every minute, every hour is anxiety and we just have to bear with that and try to continue living.

LL: Now where you are at Horse Lake, how concerned are you that you'll have to pack up and go again?

JS: Well, it would depend on the wind. They're saying this afternoon and tomorrow are unfavorable winds that will head towards 100 Mile. And if it comes southeast from 100 Mile, then we could be in trouble. But we are a good distance, at least 13 kilometers, away. But you just don't know what the wind will do.

LL: I can hear the weariness in your voice.

JS: Unbelievable. I have never been in this situation. It's worry, constant worry.

LL: Are you sleeping?

JS: With one eye open. And we go to bed at night with a wet face cloth over our faces, our noses and our mouths because of the smoke. We don't know how bad it will get in the night and we give if we get three or four hours we figure that's pretty good.

LL: Well, Ms. Silverton, I wish you all the best. I hope everything remains safe for you and for your partner and for the dogs. Please take care of yourself.

JS: Thank you so much, Laura.

LL: Bye bye.

JS: Bye.

KG: That was Jan Silverton, a BC fire evacuee, speaking earlier today. We reached her near Horse Lake, British Columbia.

[Music: Ambient]

NB fisherman obit

KG: Joe Howlett did not have your average volunteer job. For more than a decade, the Campobello Island fishermen rescued whales tangled in fishing gear in the waters off of the Maritimes. Yesterday, Mr. Howlett died rescuing a North Atlantic right whale. He was 59-years-old. It's still unclear what happened, but the whale was successfully freed. A father and a husband, Mr. Howlett was well-known in the New Brunswick island community of 850. Stephen Smart, mayor of Campobello Island, told the CBC, quote, “I'm sure for him, I'm sure it was just another day at work. He was a very brave man, a very good man and was doing something he believed in.” Unquote. In 2013, Mr. Howlett spoke to CBC Radio Halifax's “Mainstreet” host Stephanie Domet about the rescue of a humpback whale nicknamed “Foggy” by local whale watchers. Here's a clip from that interview.

SOUNDCLIP

JOE HOWLETT: She was in serious trouble when we got there. She was distraught and, obviously, she couldn't move very good and she was stationary. She got in shallow water, she was dragging a lobster trawl with her and there were traps hanging from her mouth and everything. She was in a bad situation, so we immediately got over there and started working. We immediately started cutting the ropes from her from her head and she was wrapped around the tail and she had gear hanging from her jaw. So it was a three step process really.

STEPHANIE DOMET: It sounds like a real mess, so step me through it. What does a whale rescue look like? What kind of boat are you in? What kind of tools do you use?

JH: We’re in a high-speed Zodiac that we obtained from Fisheries and Oceans. It's their sort of left over gear and they gave us the boat to work with. It's got powerful engines and you know it can make it across the bay. And we have hook blades so they can hook into the rope without actually hurting the whale itself and then cut them free.

SD: And so what was your particular role in the rescue? How did you participate?

JH: I was doing all the cutting. I cut all the gear from the whale.

SD: Was that scary?

JH: Not for me. I'm a fisherman, I've been fishing for half of my life, and I know what it's all about with ropes and things like that. It’s not a scary situation. We have a job to do. We have so much time to do it because we have to make our way back across the bay. We could say Nova Scotia we had to, but we have to make it as quick as possible without distressing the whale too much.

SD: Joe, you're a fisherman and a rescuer. How often does situations of this kind occur?

JH: This happens two or three times every year. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFFA) they fund us and they know what we do because they were interested in fishermen actually doing the job. So they taught us how to write grants and to fund our project. And so with that in mind, we have been able to fund everything that we do. And so we have the equipment and the resources to react anywhere in the Bay of Fundy that we need to go, it's great.

KG: That was part of a 2013 interview with Joe Howlett, a volunteer whale rescuer from Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Yesterday, Mr. Howlett was killed while freeing a North Atlantic right whale. He was 59-years-old.

[Music: Cultural]

Maurice Sendak book

Guest: Arthur Yorinks

KG: Maurice Sendak, the author of Where the Wild Things Are,” passed away five years ago. Since then, members of the late artist’s foundation have been sorting through his old files. Some things have gone in the trash. But recently, a staff member stumbled on what seemed like buried treasure. Sitting among those files was a typewritten manuscript. The title read “Presto and Zesto in Limboland.” And there were illustrations, too. To Mr. Sendak's fans, the find is an unbelievable discovery. But to Mr Sendak's long-time friend, Arthur Yorinks, the manuscript meant something else entirely. That's because Mr. Yorinks co-wrote the story of Presto and Zesto. We reached Arthur Yorinks in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

LL: Arthur, how did you react when you learned that the story that you'd written with your friend Maurice was discovered at long last?

ARTHUR YORINKS: I reacted with a mixture of utter joy and a bit of surprise and feeling like I was in the twilight zone because I remember that time so vividly, and for it to suddenly come flooding back was really joyous.

LL: What was joyous about it?

AY: Well, first of all, it connected me back with my dear friend, who I missed a lot since his passing. It connected me back to that moment in time when this book was created. And it was a really nice way to return to this very important friendship I had for over 40 years.

LL: I can hear that in your voice. Can you tell me how it was discovered? What do you know about that?

AY: Well Lynn Caponera, who is the head of the Maurice Sendak Foundation, and who has been with Maurice nearly her whole life and I've actually known Lynn as well since she was 12. But she apparently was going through files, as they go through all of Maurice's work and things and items, and came upon a manuscript that had an odd title that was connected to a suite of pictures that we all referred to as the “Sugar Beets” pictures because there’s one illustration of the wedding of two sugars beets and so they were always referenced that way. So she began to read it and remember, vaguely, that this was something Maurice and I had been fooling around with. First, she got in touch with Michael, who was Maurice’s long-time editor and my long time editor coincidentally, and he was stunned that this was sitting in a drawer. And then they both contacted me to let me know they had found this and would I be interested in publishing it? Which, of course, I can't remember exactly what I said, but in fact it was are you kidding me? Of course, I'd be delighted to have it published.

LL: As you said, it wasn't just the manuscript. There are also these wonderful illustrations and you talked about the two sugar beets getting married, which I'd love to see. But I've got one in front of me right now… this really wonderful illustration of a boy with bagpipes on a horse. Can you tell me about this and what these represent?

AY: Well, this is an ultimate point in the story, so I don't have to say spoiler alert. I'll give you a generalized moment that these two characters, who are Presto and Zesto, are on the journey in Limboland and their journey brings them to this moment in time where they must find an item, which they have in their hands, and escape with it with their lives. And this is a rather dramatic moment in the story.

LL: It is a great illustration, but can we talk about the process of creation of the story? You did it together, what was the process?

AY: What happened was I had known about and had seen Maurice create these pictures for a one-night-only-concert in England and then they were stuck in a drawer. And then they were trotted out one more time about seven years later for another one-time-only-concert.

LL: You mean they're being shown as the music is being played?

AY: That's correct. And the illustrations were created for a suite of nonsense rhymes to which Janacek, the Czech composer, had written a suite of music. So after that they were brought out the second time, you know they were so beautiful to me and I remember them throughout the decade that they sort of hung around. And then I said Maurice you know why don't we try making a book out of this? And somewhat of a lark, we spread out over his drawing table in his studio and we, one afternoon, just began to in a sense tell each other stories. We were just making it up as we went along. But what happened was that an actual narrative began to kind of coagulate out of all of this. And also, it seemed to be heading toward an homage to our own friendship. And I put together a manuscript and there was suddenly a book. So we put it aside, but then this happened and that happened and then, of course, Maurice passed away. The memory of that particular thing drifted. And so when Michael and Lynn contacted me this was like a bolt out of the heavens. And I thought absolutely, it’s a full-blown book. It should be published.

LL: Now the names Presto and Zesto, I understand is a bit of an inside joke between you and Maurice. Where did the names come from?

AY: I knew Maurice from the late 60’s and early 70’s and I would visit him by train because I lived in New York City. And years later, I moved out of the city myself and I said to Maurice one day I think I live near you, but because I moved to a town in New York, not in Connecticut but in New York, that Maurice’s house bordered on. And he said well, come on for lunch. You'll probably be here in about 30 minutes. I said OK. So I got in the car and I was there four minutes because we lived almost around the block from each other. It was totally ridiculous. So when I got to the car, Maurice was totally shocked and he gave me the nickname of Presto because I just appeared out of nowhere. And I didn't want to be the only one to have a nickname, so I named him Zesto. And when we went to look at these pictures and thought well this is kind of a book about us, we decided to just give them those names.

LL: I'm wondering how you feel knowing Maurice isn't around to see the story rediscovered and published and sent out into the world?

AY: Laura, it's so bittersweet. He would have absolutely loved this because it was a project of love and joy. And at the same time, it's horribly sad that he's not here with me to share in this part of it.

LL: But what it what a wonderful tribute to your friendship and to him, Presto and Zesto and your to your friendship is going to be immortal now.

AY: Well, I guess. It felt rather immortal when were in the thick of it. I'm glad it's seeing the light of day. And the great thing about it, Laura, is that we both had kind of themes in our work. And the ideas in this book are kind of woven together. You know, persevering in a sometimes not friendly world. And my immortal theme is always trying to find what it is to be yourself? Those two things seem to have come together in a wonderful stew.

LL: Arthur, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about it.

AY: It's really my pleasure, Laura. Thank you for having me.

KG: Arthur Yorinks was a close friend to Maurice Sendak, the author and illustrator of “Where the Wild Things Are.” He was in Ridgefield, Connecticut. And for more on this story, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Sad guitar and piano]

Whalers theme obit

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: A loud ship horn]

KG: That was the sound that was used to celebrate goals at the Hartford Whalers’ home arena. We're playing it tonight in celebration of the composer Jacques Ysaye. He's not to blame for that freight train blare, but he wrote the tune that came next. The now defunct NHL teams theme, considered by some to be the greatest song in hockey. Jacques Ysaye died last week in Brussels at the age of 94. His father was a great Belgian violinist, conductor and composer Eugene Ysaye. But while the elder Ysaye’s repertoire was classical, Jacques made music for the masses. He led a popular TV orchestra and composed no fewer than six of his country's Eurovision entries. Jacques Ysaye made so much music that he started selling it to, amongst others, and American music catalog company. And that's how the Whalers’ found him. In the ‘70s, a PR guy for the team had to put together a highlight reel for the season. He chose a song Mr. Ysaye called “Evening Beat” to string together all the great goals and crushing hits. The fans couldn't get enough; the team knew they had a hit. Only “Evening Beat” just didn't sound like hockey. So they renamed the tune “The brass Bonanza” and it became the Whalers’ theme until 1997, when they became the Carolina Hurricanes. So in honor of Jacques Ysaye, Let's head back to the Whalers’ Arena.

SOUNDCLIP

[Music: The Brass Bonanza/ Pop]

KG: You're listening to Jacques Ysaye’s “Evening Beat,” better known as the Hartford Whalers’ theme “The Brass Bonanza.

Christie radio

KG: For Chris Christie, life continues to be a beach. As you've probably heard, the New Jersey governor has been under fire since he was photographed sunning himself on a state-owned beach that he'd closed to the public. Since the photos were released last week, polls show that Mr. Christie's approval rating has dropped to a dim 15 per cent. Yesterday, the beleaguered Republican governor took to the airwaves to audition for a new job as host with New York's W-F-A-N sports talk radio. But instead of sounding off on another disappointing season from the New York Knicks, most callers took the opportunity to take shots at the governor.

SOUNDCLIP

HOST: Mike in Montclair, what's up Mike?

MIKE: Governor, next time you want to sit on a beach that is closed to the entire world except you.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Yeah?

MIKE: You put your fat ass in a car and go to one that's open to all your constituents, not just you and yours.

CC: Interesting Mike….

MIKE: What’s that, Gov?

CC: You know Mike, I love getting calls from communists in Montclair.

MIKE: Communists in Montclair? You’re a bully governor and I don’t like bullies..

CC: Mike, I'm not the guy who came on the air, swore on the air.

MIKE: Who swore?

CC: You did.

MIKE: Get the heck out of here.

CC: You know, you're swearing on the air, Mike. You're a bum.

MIKE: You have bad optics.

CC: Oh, bad optics. Mie, I’d like to come look at your optics every day.

MIKE: You have to lowest approval rating in the history of New Jersey politics.

CC: You know what, Mike? What matters is what you do.

MIKE: What have you done?

CC: What I just did was stop polluting the airways with a guy like that.

KG: That's New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in a heated exchange with caller “Mike from Montclair” yesterday on New York's W-F-A-N sports talk radio.

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July 11, 2017 episode transcript

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