Zoomer Week In Review

The documentary, "First to Stand", tracks the cases and causes of Irwin Cotler. You know him as a Former Justice Minister currently serving as a Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism. Cotler, above all, is a renowned human rights lawyer who set a template for freeing political prisoners going back to his first case: Soviet dissident Anatoly Natan Sharansky who was imprisoned in 1977. Libby Znaimer reached Irwin Cotler in Jerusalem. AND She was a force of nature, a legend and an icon. Hazel McCallion was a rare politician who was beloved as well as respected. She also epitomized aging well, remaining engaged and relevant until she died last week at 101. Here we share some of the best of the interviews Libby did to mark her 100th birthday.

It sparked debate in recent weeks with word the US Consumer Product Safety Commission was looking to take action on hazards posed by gas stoves used in millions of homes. An outright ban is now off the table but the renewed concern has ignited debate in the US and Canada. So what should consumers do? We reached Dr. Jeffrey Siegel, a professor of civil and mineral engineering at the University of Toronto. AND It’s hard to believe and it’s happening more than you may think. Organized crime groups are behind a string of real estate frauds in the GTA. Thirty homes have either been sold or mortgaged without the real owners’ knowledge and experts say the majority of victims are boomers. So what can you do to safeguard against becoming a victim? Christine Ross spoke with Brian King, President of private investigation firm King International Advisory Group.

Elon Musk says it’s the reason he looks fit and ripped and there are unconfirmed reports the drug Ozempic enabled Kim Kardashian to fit into Marilyn Munroe’s dress for the Met Gala. The drug was approved to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity but its popularity on social media, and with celebrities, has led to shortages and a debate on who should have priority access. Libby Znaimer talked with Dr. Sean Wharton. He specializes in treating obesity and is medical director of the Wharton Medical Clinic. AND 1-in-4 Canadians provide unpaid care for a friend or loved one and they spend a total of 5.7 billion unpaid hours doing that each year. Many struggle to balance care and paid work, and to manage burnout.   The Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence was recently launched  to give them a new voice. Libby Znaimer talked with ED Liv Mendelsohn.

It’s not unusual this time of year for people to make healthy resolutions around food. This year, there’s a new spin that is also good for the environment: cutting food waste, which averages 140 kilos per year. Libby Znaimer talked with leading health and wellness expert, Rose Reisman, about practical ways to rescue much of what usually ends up in your bin. AND He’s an Emergency Room doctor, author, and survivor of advanced stage 4 cancer. Dr. James Maskalyk has also recently been named executive editor of CMAJ. Libby caught up with him now that he has returned to work with a new perspective on practising medicine

He’s been on the front lines of fighting misinformation for years - from debunking wacky wellness trends to countering anti-vaxx conspiracy theories. Edmonton professor and author Timothy Caulfield, whose Cheating Death series was featured on Vision TV, is a newly minted member of the Order of Canada. AND It’s the latest take on eating healthier in January: the Reducetarian diet. No one will win a marketing award for that name but it offers guidance on reducing the amount of animal products we consume without eliminating them entirely. Libby Znaimer reached founder Brian Kateman in New Jersey.

The start of a new year used to see many making resolutions, in hopes the year ahead would be better over the one just passed. Another annual ritual we’re seeing more is that of predicting trends. Will you be one of the boomerang retirees returning to work in 2023? Freelance writer/columnist Radhika Panjwani says that’s one of the expected workplace trends to come out of a Microsoft survey of some 20-thousand workers in 11 countries. AND After a year in which the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate seven times in an attempt to slow down inflation, many experts believe the central bank is set to take a breather in 2023. Gordon Pape is the editor and publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder and Income Investor newsletters, and also a regular contributor to EverythingZoomer.com and this show.

Significantly fewer Canadians intend to give to charity this holiday season and those who do, plan to give less. Inflation, surging demand, and falling donations have combined to create a perfect storm for Canada’s charities and nonprofits. A new Holiday Giving survey by Imagine Canada finds fewer than half of Canadian adults intend to donate, down from last year. And a third say they’ll give less. We reached Imagine Canada’s President and CEO Bruce MacDonald. AND Christmas usually evokes a time of peaceful family gatherings. But for separated parents, their children, and grandparents, it can be a stressful time of year as kids are caught in the middle of access over the holidays. This year, divorced parents are speed dialing their lawyers, demanding access to their children over the holidays as travel plans ramp up following years of stay-at-home Christmases due to the pandemic. We reached lawyer Diana Isaac, Partner at Shulman & Partners family law for some tips on how to create a conflict free Christ

This week US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff convened a roundtable on anti-Semitism at the White House to address what he is calling an epidemic of hate. The alarming rise of anti-Semitism here in Canada and around the world has been fueled by conspiracy theories on the right and the cover of anti-Zionism on the left. I talk with Dara Horn author of "People Love Dead Jews - Reports from A Haunted Present". AND The man charged in two grisly murders, perpetrated nearly forty years ago, made his first court appearance on Friday. Police believe they were able to solve the case all these years later because of advances in investigative genetic genealogy. Det. Sgt. Stephen Smith explains how this technique led to the arrest of Joseph George Sutherland.

Zoomers will remember the time when you had to go to the library to get books and you had to search for them using a card catalogue. Today our libraries are used more as social centres, like seeking protection from harsh weather, and finding jobs online. Libby Znaimer spoke to Vickery Bowles, the City Librarian at Toronto Public Library AND Tim Christian was a prominent lawyer and Dean of the Law School at the University of Alberta throughout his career. It’s not that unusual for people to write books in retirement - but the level of success on his first foray into biography is remarkable. We talked about his transition and "Hemingway’s Widow", his groundbreaking book on Mary Welsh, Hemingway’s fourth wife.

How connected are you to family and friends? We keep talking about how important that is and how the pandemic has taken its toll. In its second ever in-depth look at social capital in the city, The Toronto Foundation found a shocking number of people who say they have no friends or family to turn to as well as a big drop in the number of people who volunteer. Libby Znaimer talked with the foundation’s CEO Sharon Avery. AND It’s Diabetes Awareness Month and every day, 640 Canadians are diagnosed with diabetes. That’s 1 person every 3 minutes. Many more are unaware they have diabetes or pre-diabetes—and that raises their risk for heart disease. Libby Znaimer reached cardiologist Dr. Shelley Zieroth at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg.

Last year Canadians donated $18 billion to charity and this is the time of year when many of us plan our year-end giving. How can you know if the causes you support are actually making a difference? Charity Intelligence is out with its annual ranking of the organizations that make the biggest impact for every dollar donated. Libby Znaimer spoke with Greg Thomson. AND It’s a given that failure can lead to dramatic life changes and sometimes those changes can be very positive. Radio host and prolific author Terry O’Reilly recounts how some of the biggest breakthroughs and best-loved products originated with a mistake. Libby Znaimer talked to him about his new book, My Best Mistakes, Epic Fails, and Silver Linings.

It was a defining moment in labour negotiations in Ontario this past week. Amid growing support for CUPE education workers, and poll numbers suggesting he was to blame, did Doug Ford blink and back down by rescinding Bill 28? We reached Dr. Simon Black, associate professor of labour studies at Brock University, about these unprecedented turn of events. AND Calgary-based writer Suzette Mayr has won this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter. This is Mayr’s sixth novel that tells the story of a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping-car porter on a train that travels across the countrywhile living a secret life as a gay man. It brings to life an important part of Black history. Mayr is a past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta, and has been teaching creative writing at the University of Calgary since 2003. We reached her hours after her big $100,000 win.

An Alberta mother of the last Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan has been chosen as this year's Silver Cross Mother. Candy Greff will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day, placing it on behalf of all mothers who have lost children to the service of Canada. Her son, Master Corporal Byron Greff, was killed in a suicide bombing in October of 2011 becoming the 158th Canadian soldier to die in the country and the last before Canada's mission there ended in 2014. We reached this year’s Silver Cross Mother, Candy Greff. AND How was your sleep last night? We changed the clocks back an hour overnight, ending daylight saving time in Ontario. According to experts, some people will experience a shock to their bodies' internal clock much like the jet lag after flying across time zones. It’s a tradition that first began in Ontario in 1918 and remains controversial. We reached Dr. Patricia Lakin Thomas, professor of biology at York University, whose research includes our circadian rhy

There is always a lower turnout for municipal elections than for the higher levels of government but Monday’s races set a record low. In Toronto, voter turnout was 28.58%. In Mississauga and Brampton, it was less than 25%. Across the province, just 34%. John Beebe of The Democratic Engagement Exchange tells Libby Znaimer that’s bad news for all of us! AND Salt is essential for preserving, fermenting and transforming food. We need it to maintain health and it has been used since ancient times. "The Miracle of Salt" charts some of its history and the different ways it’s used around the world. Libby talked with author Naomi Duguid.

INFLATION  This week was all about inflation - especially in the cost of food. Are the large grocers passing on legitimate increases in their own costs or are they using it as an excuse to price gouge? In the House of Commons politicians of all stripes voted unanimously to investigate so-called "Greedflation". Libby Znaimer asked left-wing economist Jim Stanford for his take on the evidence.  MODERN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY Modern medical technology can extend our lives in ways that would have been unimaginable just decades ago. But it can also leave patients in the grey zone between life and death robbing them of important human moments at the end. Libby Znaimer talked to ICU doctor and former paramedic Blair Bigham about his book; Death interrupted : How Modern medicine is Complicating the way We Die. 

Municipal elections are less than two weeks away and a lot of people in Toronto are frustrated. There is a sense of a city that has given up trying to manage and co-ordinate and deliver the basics while we are in the midst of a tremendous growth spurt. That growth seems to be the justification for dirty streets, overflowing garbage cans, year-old potholes, abandoned construction equipment blocking traffic lanes, the stench of overflowing sewage invading a neighbourhood. Earlier this week, Libby Znaimer moderated the first of only two mayoral debates, and she asked the five candidates how they would actually improve this and get things done. You’ll hear incumbent John Tory, followed by Urbanist Gil Penalosa, analyst Chloe Brown, entrepreneur Jack Yan and activist Sarah Climenhage. AND It’s an extension of the farm to table movement and the embrace of local food. Many people are embracing an age-old pastime that takes us into the forests - foraging. A new book explores the mysteries of mycology. Libby Znaimer

The now disbanded Ontario Science Advisory Table has released a final report that focuses on the response to the pandemic by family doctors and nurses. It’s recommending a team based approach would better serve patients and help address the alarming number of Ontarians without a family doctor. There are currently 1.8 million without a family physician and 1.7 million have a doctor who is 65 or older. We reached one of the authors of the brief, Dr. Kamila Premji, from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. AND This Thanksgiving will mark the first big fall gathering for many since the pandemic began as restrictions are lifted. But Thanksgiving dinner will come with a hefty price tag for Canadians this year as dinner staples increased by as much as 26 percent. With fewer discounts out there than previous years, how will families adjust their special meal? We reached nutritionist and author Rose Reisman

As the cold months approach, snowbirds will have a lot more to consider this coming winter as the price of accommodation, groceries and dining out have all risen. Many are opting for shorter trips south, and looking at different destinations as a result. And it’s not only travel to the U.S. that will be impacted as travellers will notice the effects of inflation wherever they go. Add into the mix, hurricanes. We reached travel expert Steven Fine, president of Snowbird Adviser. AND It’s “sweater weather” and the vibrant Fall colours are arriving with Ontario offering stunning views that are perhaps among the best in Canada. While apple picking and taking in the fall colours have always been quintessential fall activities .. if you’re looking to add a bit more adventure this fall, we reached Kevin Forget from Destination Ontario. And who better to give staycation tips. Kevin’s twitter profile reads "My job is to tell you about all of the cool things to do in Ontario"!

How many times have you heard people underestimate the seriousness of their chronic condition with a statement like, "It's just arthritis"? Arthritis is not rare, it plagues 1 in 5 Canadians and it is not an inevitable part of aging. To learn more, Libby Znaimer sat down with Trish Barbato President and CEO of The Arthritis Society. AND We often feel a deep sense of loss when someone we admire dies and many of us feel the need to pay tribute whether we knew the person or not. This week, hundreds of thousands of people lined up for hours to pay respects to the Queen and closer to home thousands turned out to honour murdered Constable Andrew Wong - although he was not a household name. What is behind these expressions of public grief? Libby talked with Dr. Darcy Harris, a professor from the Department of Thanatology, which is the scientific study of death, at King’s University College at Western University.

Along with three other former Prime Ministers and other dignitaries, the Right Honourable Jean Chretien will be part of Canada’s delegation to the Queen’s funeral tomorrow. He knew her for more than 50 years and he shared some of his memories with Libby Znaimer. AND Food is all about comfort and connection and that may be more true than ever over the next few weeks. Many of us will be hosting the first in person holidays since Covid with Jewish High Holidays and Thanksgiving around the corner. Bestselling cookbook author Bonnie Stern is promising that she has done all the worrying for us in her new book: “Don’t Worry, Just Cook!”