The LINK Online, Feb. 15,16,17 - a podcast by RCI | English

Your hosts: Levon, Terry, Marie-Claude, Marc (video of show at bottom)

ListenEN_Interview_1-20190215-WIE10Legendary British rock star Sting performs in solidarity with General Motors workers in Oshawa
Sting and the cast of his musical"The Last Ship"perform in support of General Motors workers in Oshawa, Ont. on Thursday, February 14 , 2019. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

This week, Gordon Sumner aka"Sting"took the cast of his hit musical to the city of Oshawa, Ontario for a performance  of songs from his hit musical"The Last Ship".

The city of Oshawa is facing the closure of the General Motors plant, the city's biggest employer for over 100 years. Performing in nearby Toronto, Sting says he can easily identify with the GM workers situation as the musical is about the very similar situation his hometown in England went through when the local shipyard closed. It too had been the mainstay of the city since at least the mid 1800's. When the shipyard closed, it threw thousands out of work, and devastated the community, just as the GM closure is expected to do in Oshawa.

Levon prepared a report.The (somewhat surprising) biggest threat to the world's biggest creatures
The leatherback turtle is threatened by hunting not only for its meat but also the collection and eating of its eggs (US Fish and Wildlife Service- U Oregon, Ripple et al)The world's biggest creatures are called"mega-fauna". Whether birds, reptiles or amphibians, whether mammals or fish, most of the largest species in these categories are under threat. That's not new. We've had years of stories of how habitat destruction and pollution are threatening them. However, a new international study shows that hunting was and continues to be the largest and most immediate threat to their survival.

Marc spoke to Professor Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, the supervising author of this international study.Death of respected newsman creates a loss for Canadian journalism
Joe Schlesinger (seen in 2009) died Monday, leaving nothing but praise and admiration in his wake. To his fellow reporters and journalists, including Brian Stewart (see interview below), Schlesinger was a reporter's reporter. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

His was a smooth, calm, and yet passionate voice in Canadian journalism. His own story was remarkable including having been brought as a child to England from the Nazi invasion of his Czech homeland. His parents were later killed during the Holocaust. Later he would flee his homeland again during the Communist purge of journalists.He later worked for a variety of news services in Canada, London and Paris, before eventually joining the Canadian public broadcaster CBC.

It is perhaps due to his own remarkable history and travels that led to his wonderful story telling ability and insightful reporting from places and conflict zones around the world, Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iran and more. Even after retirement from the CBC in 1994, he continued to produce a number of news magazine specials, documentaries, and commentaries for the CBC.In 1990 he wrote his autobiography called, Time Zones: a Journalist in the World.

Joe Schlesinger died this week at age 90. Terry spoke to another respected journalist, Brian Stewart, about Schlesinger's legacy.

Watch The Link, Feb. 15, 2019.

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